rizzles & kibbs
by briwd
Summary: The sequel to Rizzoli, Isles & Kate. NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team join forces with Boston Homicide to investigate who's behind a string of bizarre murders along the U.S. east coast. However, the perpetrator has Gibbs; Special Agent Kate Todd; Detective Jane Rizzoli; and Dr. Maura Isles in his sights. STORY IS COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Prologue**

He is a man of many interests, a self-styled Renaissance man.

Motivational speaking. Writing. Art. Sculpture.

The speeches, manuscripts and travel pay the bills, and allow him to create his works of art.

Some of his interests, however, are ones he keeps close to the vest - and pursues in secret.

_Someone has to take care of the whores, after all._

He prefers to keep his...darker...interests separate from his job and the hobbies he shows off to colleagues, associates and dates. Until now, they haven't crossed paths.

A week ago, after one of his seminars, he met a fan: a nice, attractive, single Naval lieutenant, here in Boston to visit her family. They hit it off, and she accepted his kind offer of dinner and a drink.

Instead of going to the bar at the hotel, she followed him to his apartment. He showed off, with faux modesty, his sculptures. Then, he led her into his living room, where he poured her a drink, and asked her to model for his latest project.

She declined, citing Navy policy, then found herself drifting into unconciousness.

This is where the Renaissance man's public and dark worlds intersected.

She was a nice lady, and would have been a very pretty model, but it was unfortunate that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he decided.

_At least she didn't feel any pain. Unlike those whores._

And unlike those others who made him look over his damned shoulder every day, wondering when they would catch up to him.

The Naval lieutenant wasn't like the others, and so he would treat her with more respect than the whores and bitches.

He'd leave a calling card, of sorts, so that others could pay their final respects.

And, he'd leave her in a place where they would be sure to find her - and where he could start to track them and put them down before they caught on to what he was doing.

As he placed the statue onto the dolly, he looked briefly at the photographs of the people he himself only referred to as 'they' or 'them':

The detective and her medical examiner girlfriend.

The former marine, turned federal agent, and his probable girlfriend, the ex-Secret Service agent now working for them.

One year of them making his life a living hell. And the medical examiner, of all people, saving his life not long ago.

_Their time is coming,_ he decided, as he wheeled the statue into the elevator.

**Boston Cambridge University**

"Where's the crime scene?" asked Barry Frost, detective, Boston Police Department Homicide Division, riding in the back passenger seat.

"Up there," said the driver: Jane Rizzoli, a fellow Homicide detective and Frost's work partner, as she pulled over behind a TV station truck.

"The commons yard," said Homicide detective Vince Korsak, Jane's former work partner. "That's right in front of the student center."

"And a core part of university lore," said Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Jane's fiancee.

"University _lore_?" Jane cracked, as she shut her door and walked alongside Maura, Frost and Korsak towards the scene.

"Yes. It is said that the founder of Boston Cambridge University walked through a patch of wilderness that its owner said was worthless, since it was unsuitable for farming. The founder looked about him and saw a great and vast university. So he met with men of great wealth who agreed with his vision, brought out the landowner, and three years later founded the university."

"Maur," Jane said, stopping. "That was in the BCU information brochure I picked up from the advisor's office in high school."

"It was also in a biography of the founder, Phineas Knox. Which I've read twice. Did you know Mr. Knox also was one of the foremost promoters of medicine in Revolutionary War-era America?"

"Did you _KNOW_, Dr. Isles, that there is a Venus de Milo bleeding from its arm in the middle of that field?" Jane said, pointing to the center of the crime scene.

"And it looks like someone's crying," Frost said, pointing to a female student standing with her boyfriend and another female with a BCU Campus Police uniformed officer on the opposite side of the scene.

"They may be the witnesses who discovered the statue," Korsak said, referring to what they were told by BCU Campus Police via telephone back at the station. "I'll go over and talk to them."

"And Maura, Frost and I will check out this latest chapter in 'university lore'," Jane said, as they crossed under the tape.

"Too bad Frankie's not here," Frost said. "He deserved the gig."

"You're not just saying that because of how Riley screwed you and Frankie over?" Jane replied.

"I'm saying that because he deserved it," Frost answered, putting on his gloves; the trio were at the statue, and Maura was looking it over. "He's got to be at the front of the line for the next opening."

"Let's worry about what's in front of us," Jane said; Riley Cooper being picked the day before for the open position in Homicide over Frankie Rizzoli still irked her.

"A piece of the statue appears to have been removed, and possibly replaced," Maura said. "An eight-and-a-half by five-inch portion, on the right buttock."

"On its _butt_?" Jane said. "Someone cut this out and slapped it back on?"

That was in fact the case, as Jane, Frost and Maura learned after hearing one of the female witnesses being interviewed by Korsak scream.

"Omigodomigod_omigod_," said the witness, a petite sophomore named Heather. "Chuck - my boyfriend - took out his hunting knife and cut into it and THERE WAS A DEAD BODY _WAAAAAAHHHH_"...

...and she then cried and wailed into Korsak's shoulder.

While Maura tried to comfort Heather, Jane rolled her eyes in exasperation, then had a campus uniformed officer bring over Chuck.

"Heather and Felice - her bestie - said to leave it alone, but there was blood and I wanted to check and see if there was a body-" Chuck said, before Jane put up a hand.

"You didn't think about this being a crime scene? And that the statue was evidence?" Jane interjected - sternly.

"Uh oh," Chuck replied, meekly.

"Uh oh is _right_," Frost said. "Why not call the campus police and let them - and us - handle it?"

"Because Heather was crying and Felice was scared and other people were talking," Chuck said. "One guy was about to knock it down. I said I'd cut into it to see what was going on."

Chuck explained how he cut out a piece of the plaster to shut everyone up - and that he slammed it back on the statue after seeing the exposed skin.

"The skin was gnarly. Pale. Dead pale, dude," he said to Jane, Maura, Frost and Korsak. "Dudette. Dudes. Du_dettes_-"

Jane cut him off. "_DUDE_," she half-shouted, then gave him a lecture on interfering with a crime scene, followed by his very sincere and very long apology, Heather's crying, and Felice's pointing to the base.

"Chuck saw something else near her feet," Felice said to Maura.

"Chuck, did you cut here?" Maura asked, as Chuck continued to apologize.

"Hey _DUDE_," Jane held her hand up to Chuck's face to shut him up. "The lady's _speaking_ to you."

"And be a _gentleman_," Frost said, "and answer her question."

Maura had to repeat it, since he was babbling when she asked it the first time.

"I saw something sticking out," he explained. "Not smooth like the rest of the base - almost like an ID card."

"Where's your knife?" Jane asked him; it was in his pocket.

"I'll take it," Korsak said, as Chuck handed him a hunting knife.

"Jane?" Frost said, looking at the 'protusion'. "It does look like some sort of identification card - Chuck. Did you take it out and stick it back in?"

"No," he answered. "I cut a place to pull it out, but the cop told me to leave it alone when he saw me try to pull it out-"

"_YOU TOUCHED IT_?" Jane said; Chuck nodded. "_Great_."

Then, the plaster Chuck slapped on the buttock fell onto the ground, reexposing the flesh, and causing Heather to wail yet again.

"Somebody calm her down!" Jane yelled, then told a Boston PD uniform to escort the students away from the statue, and the media. "Maura. Might as well take a look."

Maura was ahead of Jane, examining the opening and sniffing around it.

"You're _sniffing_?! You _smell_ something, Dr. Bloodhound?"

"I _do_ detect an odor, Detective," Maura replied. "Different from the woman in the plaster statue from yesterday."

"How different?" Korsak asked; Maura looked more closely at the exposed flesh and sniffed again, then answered.

"Upon initial examination, I would say this body was refrigerated, but not as long as the body from the first statue," Maura said.

"How long was _this _one refrigerated?" Jane.

"The rate of decomposition, combined with the temperature of the flesh, suggests she may have only been refrigerated for one to two weeks," Maura replied.

"The first body was refrigerated for much longer than that," Korsak interjected. "You said two months, Dr. Isles?"

"Two to six," Maura replied.

"Two bodies, encased in plaster, arms cut off, two days in a row," Jane mused. "Frost. What did campus police say as far as security camera footage is concerned?"

"I was told there is none, from 5 a.m. on," Frost said. "The cameras were taken out with a laser pointer."

"Then we're definitely looking at a serial killer," Korsak said. "The park yesterday, BCU today, the other killings along the east coast."

The homicide detectives, and Dr. Isles, were so focused on the statue and the case, that they failed to notice two familiar faces interviewing Heather, Chuck and Felice.

"Okay," Jane said. "Let's review what we've discovered so far."

"This is plaster," Frost said of the 'statue' covering the corpse, "not bronze. Paint's chipping off quickly, too."

"And the body is very cold," said the M.E., Maura Isles. "Consistent with prolonged refrigeration of a week to two weeks. It would account for the specific degree of decomposition."

"Frozen," Korsak said.

"Not as long as the other corpse," Maura replied. "And not frozen. Refrigerated. And taken out very recently, within the past eight hours."

"Consider me corrected, doctor," Korsak replied. "Refrigerated. But _why_?"

"That's what they pay us to find _out_, Korsak," Jane said, before seeing the protrusion at the base and remembering what Chuck said about an ID.

"I know the kid said he didn't touch that card; I'm betting he lied to us," Jane remarked.

"Probably scared out of his mind," Frost replied.

"At least he's not wailing," Korsak interjected, glancing at his lapel of his coat, which Heather had cried into.

"Korsak. Gimme that knife."

Korsak handed Jane Chuck's knife, and cut away the plaster holding the badge in place.

"Frost, Korsak, Maura. It's a Navy I.D."

Frost took the laminated badge from Jane and looked it over, even as a man and woman flashed badges at a uniformed officer and headed towards the statue.

"She's a Petty Officer," Frost said. "Jane Stanton."

"If this is in fact the same person," Maura said, "I can identify her through dental records that the Navy would undoubtedly have."

"They may have DNA records as well," Korsak said.

"Shouldn't NCIS handle this?" Frost asked, as the man and woman approached them. "She's a Petty Officer."

"And that makes it our _case_," said the man, calmly and directly.

Jane, Maura, Frost and Korsak looked up, and saw the familiar gruff expression of NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Next to him was one of his senior agents, Special Agent Caitlin Todd.

"Dead Petty Officer places this under NCIS jurisdiction," she said.

"Well hello to you, _too_," Jane responded. "Here for a visit?"

"Here to _investigate_," Gibbs replied. "Petty Officer Jane Stanton, assigned to Norfolk, missing for two weeks, last seen with her mother here in Boston."

"I'd say your being here is a helluva coincidence, Gibbs, but I know what you think about coincidences," Jane said.

"This isn't a coincidence, Jane," Kate said. "We're in on this case now."

"Not _here_, Kate," said Jane. "Our city, our case."

"Joint jurisdiction, then," Gibbs replied.

"Excuse us?" Frost.

"Joint jurisdiction," Gibbs repeated. "Already spoke with Cavanaugh. Our cases intersect with yours. Besides. There's plenty of work to go around."

"Gibbs, _what_ are you talking about?" Jane asked, as Frost read a text on his phone.

"I think he's referring to another statue," said Frost. "Just got a text from Riley. Another Venus de Milo, three miles away. She says Woody and Roz are working it, with some feds."

"We _know_," Kate said. "The rest of our team's there, along with our M.E. Victim's civilian, and the girlfriend of a Marine."

"Same thing as here," Gibbs told them. "Venus de Milo, plaster casting, bronze paint."

"Serial killer?" Korsak asked, to see if Gibbs had come to the same conclusion that he, Jane and Frost had.

"My conclusion, too," Gibbs answered.

"Don't like the sound of _that _at all," Jane said. "Let's find out what the hell's going on here. We can sort out jurisdiction later...Gibbs, you might want to talk to those kids-"

"We just _did_, while you were looking at the statue," Kate said. "Gibbs nearly chewed their asses out for messing with the scene."

"Cavanaugh gave his approval for us to use your morgue, Dr. Isles," Gibbs said. "I assume that's where you're headed?"

"Of course," Maura replied. "I want to compare her to the victim from yesterday, and since you're here, I'll need dental X-rays, DNA samples-"

"Ahead of you on that, Doc," Gibbs said. "Ducky's already put in the request; he can fill you in when we get back to your morgue."

"I'll ride with Dr. Isles back to the station," Korsak said. "Agent Gibbs, will you and Agent Todd be following us?"

"We'll meet you there," Gibbs replied. "We're going back to the other crime scene... Rizzoli. We'll give you and Frost a ride if you want."

As they walked to Gibbs' rental car, they reviewed the crime scene and briefly discussed similar cases Gibbs' team had investigated within the past two weeks.

"Who's at the other scene?" Jane asked, as she buckled her seat belt in the back. "Burley? Paula?"

"DiNozzo," Kate said. "McGee. Ducky. And Ziva."

Jane knew from previous emails with Kate that Ziva had joined their team...and, from reading between the lines, things weren't as rosy as Kate portrayed them to be.

"Isn't DiNozzo your senior agent, Agent Gibbs?" Frost asked.

"_One _of them," Kate interjected. "The senior among the _two_ of us...you know the detectives with them?"

"Yeah," Jane said. "Woody, Roz. Both good cops, and..._Riley_. She's new."

Kate noted the hint of disdain in Jane's voice for 'Riley'; she'd have to ask her about that later on.

Assuming they got to the other crime scene in one piece.

"Strap your belts on, guys," Kate said. "Gibbs is driving."

Gibbs pulled out of his parking spot and floored it; Jane swore he went from zero to 60 in a second.

"Aw come on, Kate, you think I'm gonna kill them?" Gibbs joked.

Jane now knew first-hand what Kate meant when she talked about her boss's insane driving habits.

"Frost," she mumbled as Gibbs swerved in and out of traffic while speeding towards their destination. "Meet Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

**Author's Note:** The story of the founding of BCU and the reference to Phineas Knox is made up for the purposes of the storyline. Consider it canon for the story's universe, not for the Rizzoli & Isles television show. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Clipper Park - and the adjacent strip mall, both three miles from Boston Cambridge University - was a beehive of activity, mostly from Boston Police.

However, the group of people gathered around the crime scene were from NCIS, much to the chagrin of the Homicide detectives on site.

"I'm calling Cavanaugh," said the lead detective, Woody Hoyt, watching the agents and their medical examiner checking out the faux Venus de Milo statue left in the parking lot. "That one guy's driving me up the wall."

"He hasn't said a word to you," said his partner, Detective Roz Framus. "Besides. Just got a text from Frost."

"And...?"

"Frost says back off, till they get here. Let them finish, Rizzoli says she'll handle them."

Woody threw up his hands. "They better get here quick," he said, before noticing someone approaching from the opposite direction.

"Jordan?" Roz said.

"Damnit," Woody replied, before heading towards the statue. "Better stop her before she gets there."

"She _IS_ one of our M.E.s," Roz replied, as Woody sprinted to head her off.

At the moment, the statue itself was surrounded by NCIS agents Tony DiNozzo and Tim McGee; Mossad liaison Officer Ziva David; and NCIS medical examiner Donald "Ducky" Mallard.

"The statue itself seems to fit the same M.O. as the other two," McGee said as he sketched it on his paper pad.

"A most _dreadful_ interpretation of a classic work of _art_," Ducky said. "Plaster, painted bronze, cast around a corpse, arms cut off midway through the biceps bracchi muscle on both sides."

"And blood dripping from the right stump," DiNozzo observed. "I saw some creepy stuff back in Philly and Baltimore, when I was a cop. This year alone we had that supermodel impaled on a fence; Ziva found a head in a cooler; and just last week they found a guy eaten by a bear."

"Do you have a film reference for what we are looking at here, Tony?" Ziva said, as she snapped photos of the statue.

Tony shook his head.

"Not even among one of your flasher films?" Ziva replied.

"'_Flasher_' films?" asked a newcomer to the scene: Jordan Cavanaugh, the associate chief medical examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

"Hello there," Ducky said, as Tony approached her, and introductions were made.

"So what's an NCIS team from Washington doing up here, taking over Boston Police's crime scene," Jordan asked, looking over the statue.

"Baby sitting," Tony replied. "This...statue, if you want to call it that...resembles a case we had in Washington, involving a dead Navy ensign-"

"Jordan!" shouted Detective Hoyt, followed by Detective Framus. "This is our crime scene, not theirs...sorry, Romeo. Our scene."

"Hey!" Tony interjected, smiling. "No problemo. We're just checking it out."

"You still haven't answered my question, 'very special agent DiNozzo'," Jordan replied.

"You mean the one about why we are here, or the one about his flasher films?" Ziva interjected; Jordan smiled, Ducky chuckled, and Tony glared at Ziva.

"They're not 'flasher' films, they're 'slasher' films...which I don't like," Tony snapped, before turning to Cavanaugh. "My apologies...Ziva sometimes misspeaks."

"Mmm hmm," Woody muttered. "You still didn't answer the lady's question, Agent DiNozzo; why are you here?"

"As if I didn't tell you before...Woody...this is similar to a case we had in D.C. involving a dead Navy Ensign, found in a park, left in public view," Tony replied.

Ziva rolled her eyes, then stepped next to DiNozzo, and Roz next to Woody, both to prevent the two alpha males from talking themselves into a confrontation with the other.

"With the same pose, the same plaster, the same blood dripping from the stump on the left arm," Ducky interjected.

"It almost looks like the Venus de Milo statue," Jordan observed. "But on the original statue, the left arm is completely cut off at the clavicle-"

"-whereas _here_, both arms were amputated at the bicep," Ducky concluded.

"I see her face is partly visible," Jordan stated. "Whomever did this did a poor job of covering it up."

"Which isn't the same as the ensign we found in D.C. ... and, according to the text from Kate, not the same as the statue at the university," McGee said.

"Which one?" Jordan asked, and McGee and Detective Riley Cooper filled her in on what they were told about the statue at BCU.

"Definite pattern, then," Jordan concluded. "But why was this woman's face partly obscured?"

"That is what _WE'RE_ going to find out, Jordan," Woody said, looking at DiNozzo. "She's civilian, Boston native. Just because she dates a Marine doesn't keep it from being our case."

"Never said it _did_, 'Woody'," Tony replied. "There _is_ a connection with the ensign and the officer we found at the university, which means it could be the same killer."

"Serial?" Woody replied. "Two here in Boston...one in D.C. ... sonofabitch."

50 yards away - behind a row of Boston Police cruisers - Gibbs pulled up in his rental, spotting the statue, and his team and the detectives around it.

Frost got out of the back seat, a little dazed. "Good lord, Jane...that guy drove like he was in an Indy Car race. How many laws did he _break_?"

"I think he stopped at that last stop sign," Jane replied, shutting her door, and seeing Gibbs jogging towards the scene, agent Kate Todd following behind him.

"That was a _rolling_ stop; _then_ he sped _up_," Frost replied, as he observed Gibbs and Kate. "Looks like they're in a hurry...and Woody's talking to one of those other guys."

"DiNozzo," Jane said, before breaking into a jog herself. "Come on, Frost...better make sure he hasn't already driven Woody crazy."

Tony hadn't driven Woody crazy, but Detective Hoyt was relieved to see his coworkers Rizzoli and Frost - and Tony's 'boss', Gibbs - approach them.

"Agent Gibbs," Woody said, extending his hand to Tony's boss. "Detective Woody Hoyt, Boston Police, Homicide Division-"

"Good to meet you," Gibbs said. "This is Agent Caitlin Todd" - nodding to one of his two senior agents, standing alongside him - "and I trust you've met the rest of my team."

"Yes, and 'very special agent' DiNozzo was telling me you're observing Homicide's crime scene," Woody said, pointing to the statue. "Isn't that right, Jane?"

_Of all the times for a pissing match,_ Jane thought to herself.

"You're right," Gibbs replied. "This _is_ your scene, because the victim's a civilian. _Our_ scene is at BCU - which we're about to head back to, before we take that victim to your morgue."

"Our morgue?" Roz said.

"Yeah, your morgue," Gibbs replied. "After Duck looks at the body at BCU, it's headed there - and oh yeah, Detective. Joint case, your department and us."

Woody, Roz and Riley looked at Jane and Frost.

"_He's_ right," Jane said. "Joint jurisdiction, because this and the other two statues match their case in Washington...we'll meet you back at Homicide, after Gibbs and his team look at BCU."

"We'll follow you," Woody said. "I want to see that thing for myself."

The body of the Marine girlfriend was prepped for transport back to Boston Police's Division One building, and the teams walked back to their cars.

"Woody," Frost said to Hoyt. "Can I ride with you and Roz?"

"Sure," he replied, "but you know Riley's with us, right?"

"Compared to _that_ guy" - nodding towards Gibbs - "and how _crazy_ he drives? I can handle riding in the back seat with Riley."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Boston Police Department**  
><strong>Division One headquarters<strong>

Finally, the crowd in the Division One Cafe had died down, and Stanley - its owner and manager - could take a break.

That meant sitting behind the counter while Angela Rizzoli, his assistant, talked to her son.

"On _company time_!" Stanley groaned. "You're lucky I'm being _nice_ to you this time...you get five minutes!"

"Five _minutes_?" Angela half-shouted from one of the tables in the cafe. "Stanley, I promise I won't be very long and the moment people walk in I'll be back behind the counter-"

"Then _hurry_ up!" Stanley saw packets of ketchup strewn about the counter and got flustered. "Does anybody anymore care about things being where they _belong_? And-"

"Ma," said Angela's son, Officer Frankie Rizzoli, sitting across from her. "Really, I'm fine-"

"No you are _not_ fine, Frankie," Angela said. "You _should_ have gotten that _promotion_-"

"Ma, don't worry, really," he replied, putting his hand over his mom's. "I'll get my badge. I'll get it later than I thought, but I'll get it."

"Do you want me to _talk_ to Lieutenant _Cavanaugh_? I can _talk _to him if you want-"

"_NO_!" Frankie half-shouted, then put his hands over his mother's, again, to calm and reassure her. "Ma, really, I'll be fine-"

Behind them, a large group of people entered the building's main entrance, and all looked to be heading directly towards the cafe.

"Just when everything finally died down," Stanley grumbled. "Rizzoli! Break's over!"

Angela got up - reluctantly - started to walk to the counter, then stopped and turned back to her son.

"Frankie, I can _talk_ with Lieutenant-"

"Maaaaa..." Frankie nodded towards the group entering the cafe. "Jane and Frost need their coffee."

"It's Jane and Frost and Woody and...her," Angela said, repeating the obvious, and referring last to Riley Cooper.

"And some others...hey. It's those Navy cops. From Washington," Frankie said, recognizing the other people with the group of Homicide detectives.

"RIZZOLI!" yelled Stanley, as a line formed.

"Hey! Stop yelling at my ma!" snapped Jane Rizzoli, second in line. "She's on her way...right Ma?"

"Of course!" Angela said, scurrying back to the counter.

"Get back there and take care of that coffee machine!" Stanley growled, before turning to the man at the head of the line. "How can I help you."

"Large coffee. Black." The man said nothing else and stood there, impassively.

"You heard the man! Large coffee! Black!" Stanley snapped at Angela before looking over the man's shoulder at Jane. "You want the usual, Detective?"

"You always talk to your employees like that, Mr. Fish?" the man said.

Stanley was momentarily taken aback, then gathered himself. "Coffee black, right?"

"Yeah...you normally talk to your employees that way?"

"What's it matter to _you_?" Stanley grumbled. "Angela! _You_ know how your daughter likes her coffee-"

"Shouldn't _talk_ to her like that," the man repeated himself, annoyed, as Jane and everyone else behind her wondered what in hell was about to go down.

"What the hell do you-_look_, pal. You _want_ your coffee or _not_?!"

"Keep your damn coffee," the man replied. "What I _want_ is you to apologize to the lady."

"What in the world is this guy doing," Frankie muttered to himself, as he looked on from his table.

"That's none of your damn _business_!" Stanley spat! "And _who_ the hell _are_ you anyway, buddy?"

"Leroy. Jethro. Gibbs. NCIS," the man replied, pulling out his badge.

Stanley looked at the badge, and realized who the man in front of him was. He had heard a lot of gossip about Gibbs, during the many months Jane and Dr. Maura Isles were in Washington, and after Jane and Maura returned to Boston.

Gibbs, he heard, was not a guy to mess with - and Stanley knew he did not want to find himself on Gibbs' bad side.

Stanley abruptly did a 180, apologizing profusely to Gibbs, Angela, Angela again, then Jane, then Frankie, then Angela, Gibbs, Frankie AND Jane, and offered free coffee and donuts on the house to everyone.

"This better be good coffee," Gibbs said, firmly. "Or _you'll_ pay _ME_."

As Gibbs' team and the other Homicide detectives collected their free coffee and pastries, Jane made her way to Frankie.

"Pretty stand-up guy," Frankie said, impressed at what he had seen - and embarassed, too. "_We_ should have been the ones to yell at Stanley, Jane-"

"I know," Jane admitted. "Guess we've seen him like that so long we've gotten used to him...Ma _looks_ happier."

Angela Rizzoli did look happier, and more relaxed, even when handing a coffee and donut to Riley Cooper. When she wasn't dealing with her customers, she was sneaking glances at Gibbs.

"Jane, you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah. Free coffee and donuts from Stanley. Thought I'd never see the day."

"No, Jane...you see Ma?"

"Of course. She looks really happy...and I _know_ I owe Gibbs after all of that."

"_NO_, Jane...she looks like she's really into Gibbs..._REALLY_ into Gibbs."

Jane looked at her mother, standing next to the coffee machine while Stanley tended to the last people in line: Agent Tim McGee and Officer Ziva David.

"Oh my god," Jane said. "She's..."

"Smitten?"

"Yeah-no. _No_. Can't be. That's _not_ at all what _I'm_ seeing."

"No?"

"No...Frankie. _NO_."

"...no?... No. No, Jane. No. We're _not_ seeing what it _looks_ like we're seeing."

"No."

"Nope."

"Oh _god_," Jane whined, as her and Frankie's mother laid her chin on her palm and looked dreamily over towards Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who was talking with his team. "Frankie, I'm _really_ gonna owe Gibbs big time for this."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Morgue, BPD Division One headquarters**

Ducky Mallard briefly looked up from the body of the victim Homicide had investigated the day before. She was the first of what the local media had began referencing as the 'Venus de Milo killings'; though she was civilian, and therefore not under NCIS jurisdiction, Ducky still took a look at the body to see how similar it was to the Petty Officer found at BCU.

Ducky looked around at the workspace of Dr. Maura Dorthea Isles, Head Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and her second, Assistant Medical Examiner Jordan Cavanaugh. It was similar to his own, if a little larger, and perhaps a bit more open.

He noticed a few of Dr. Isles' African art pieces hanging up - she informed him most were either in her office or at her home - and decided he missed the character they brought to his more sterile morgue back in Washington.

"Everything alright, Dr. Mallard?" Jordan said, snapping Ducky out of his thoughts.

"Ah," Ducky replied, "yes, Jordan. I am fine. Just finishing up my examination of this poor young woman."

"And what have you found?" asked Maura, looking up from the body of the BCU victim.

"Nothing any different from our other two victims, nor from the victims we found in Washington," Ducky replied. "The cuts, the plaster, how the body was maneuvered, are the same."

Jordan - looking at the mask of the woman found earlier that day at the park - then took the mask and held it up.

"Looks like the authentic Venus de Milo, too, in the face," Jordan commented. "Either the killer is a really good artist, or he's using a plaster mold to replicate the features of the original statue."

"I would say the killer is using a mold," Maura said, looking at the mask. "The facial features on her mask and the mask from this victim are exactly the same-"

"Yes," Ducky interjected. "The spacing between the eyes, the features of the nose, even the structure of the chin and jawline."

Maura looked over all three victims, again.

"See something else, Dr. Isles?" Jordan.

"Bodily structure is almost identical for all three women," Maura explained. "They are all the same height, same body type. The one from the park is Caucasian-Latina, the other two are Caucasian-"

"One from D.C. was also Caucasian, and the other was African-American," Ducky added.

"He's looking for a body _type_," Jordan said. "Question is, is that's all he's looking for?"

"That is for our detective and agent friends to uncover," Ducky mused. "I fear that they won't uncover the motivation - and track down the killer - before he or she strikes again."

Right then, the door to the morgue opened, and the three M.E.s saw Jane Rizzoli and Leroy Jethro Gibbs, trailed by Kate Todd.

"Not gonna wait around to find out, Duck," Gibbs said.

"Fill us in on what you found, Maura," Jane said to Maura, "so Kate and our people can start a profile on this creep."

Maura proceeded to inform Jane, Gibbs and Kate what she, and Jordan and Ducky, discovered about the bodies.

**Homicide squadroom**

Gibbs left Tony, Ziva and McGee behind with instructions to be quiet and observe.

For Tony, the 'be quiet' part ended after the elevator doors shut; he proceded to work the room and introduce himself to everyone - particularly those of the female variety.

"What happened to 'be quiet and observe'," McGee muttered to Ziva, as Tony began to chat up Det. Riley Cooper.

"Apparently he thinks it only applies to _us_," Ziva replied.

Riley, politely, declined Tony's invitation to discuss the local bar scene. And James Bond movie trivia. _And_ the comparison of Kevin Garnett to Kevin McHale.

"Tony is going over with these detectives like a lead fart," Ziva said; Frost, sitting nearby, overheard her and looked up in surprise.

"Ziva. Lead _balloon_. The idiom is 'lead balloon'," McGee corrected her.

Tony glanced over at his fellow NCIS team members, and saw their reaction. He understood they'd rather him shut up, but in his mind there was a method to his madness. _What better way to profile these detectives in a short time, to gauge the temperature of the room._

DiNozzo made eye contact with McGee and Ziva, and glanced towards Korsak and Frost.

McGee shook his head, and mouthed 'Gibbs'.

DiNozzo made eye contact again, and glanced towards Frost - who noticed him - and Korsak. Ziva made a headslap gesture to the back of her head, and McGee shook his head.

Tony glared at them both, briefly, then reintroduced himself to Detectives Woody Hoyt and Roz Framus, and proceeded to make small talk. To Woody's chagrin, Tony began with a list of top five movies set in Boston.

"Is he _always_ like that?" Frost whispered to McGee and Ziva.

"Oh, it never stops," Ziva answered. "He is a clattertooth."

Frost looked at her, mystified by what she had just said.

"A clattertooth'?" Frost asked Ziva. "Like a snaggletooth?"

"No. A clattertooth. Constantly clatters. _Never_ shuts up-"

"I think Ziva means _chatterbox_," McGee interjected. "Which he is. Once he gets started, it's hard to stop him."

"Ah," Frost replied, then remembered Jane's debriefing of the NCIS team from her lengthy time with them in Washington. "He's your senior agent, right? How good of an agent is he?"

"He's _one_ of them, Kate's the other, and he's pretty good when he sticks to business," McGee said, as Korsak joined in on the conversation.

"I don't think Agent DiNozzo's gotten on Woody's good side," Korsak said, pointing over towards Detective Hoyt, who was extremely annoyed over the NCIS agent's abrupt recounting of Jerry O'Connell movies. "Think we should go over there and rescue him?"

"No," Ziva said. "Besides, he _does_ know when to back down."

"He's working the room so he can know who we're dealing with here," McGee said. "The same way Jane's brother did when he visited the Navy Yard last March, and the same way you two are doing now."

_Kid's perceptive, and smart,_ Korsak thought. "Pretty good observations, Agent McGee," he replied. "Is he saving us for last?"

"Tony is doing what Tony does," Ziva interjected. "He is a good agent, and despite appearances is no moron."

"But don't tell him that. Or don't tell him we said that," McGee added.

Ziva nodded her head in agreement. "Definitely not," she agreed. "Otherwise his head will grow until it pops like a _tit_."

Korsak was speechless. Frost stared at Ziva momentarily, then at McGee - who looked as if he'd heard the metaphor from her before - and a moment later, started giggling uncontrollably.

That caught Tony's attention from the other side of the squad room.

"Hey, McFunny!" Tony yelled. "You putting on a comedy show over there?"

Frost was besides himself with laughter, and Korsak spoke up.

"Just getting to know us, Agent DiNozzo," he said. "Just like you're getting to know Woody and Roz."

"Frost's gonna laugh himself to death," Roz commented.

"Better go over there, then and put an end to the McComedy Hour," Tony said, walking towards his teammates; Woody mouthed to Korsak 'YOU CAN HAVE HIM'.

Frost finally gathered himself, and put out his hand to shake Tony, who did likewise, and then with Korsak.

"So what's the joke, Probie, that you have one of Boston's finest doubled over in laughter?" Tony said, as the elevator doors opened in the hallway.

"Not me. _Ziva_," McGee thumbed to Officer David, who feigned ignorance.

"Apparently Mossad officers aren't just trained to kill," Tony quipped. "They're also trained to make jokes. What is it, Zee-vah? The one where I superglued Probie's face to the keyboard? Or the one where me and Kate-wait. Frost? Tell me."

"She..she said your head would pop like a tit," Frost said before doubling over in laughter as Jane, Gibbs, Kate and Maura walked towards them.

"Oh, okay, Zee-Vah, the joke's on me," Tony complained, while Frost tried to contain himself again, and Ziva and McGee straightened themselves up. "You two. Don't-"

"Don't _what_, DiNozzo." Tony stopped, hearing Gibbs' voice over his left shoulder.

"Yeah, Tony," Kate interjected, smiling and stepping on Tony's right side. "You were telling Ziva and McGee something. Don't _what_?"

"_Sorry_ boss," Tony said, glancing to his left, then mock-sneering at Kate. "Probie. Zee-vah. Don't just stand there. Tell the boss what you've observed."

Tony played like McGee and Ziva were in the crosshairs, though he was well aware all eyes were on him.

"We saw 'very special agent DiNozzo' introducing himself to everyone as a representative of NCIS," Ziva stated.

"Special Agent DiNozzo wanted to meet Boston's finest for themselves," McGee followed.

Jane, ready to headslap DiNozzo if he even breathed wrongly, found Maura grapsing her hand - and giving her a 'don't you dare' look.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, and Tony braced himself.

"Boss," Tony said. "The homicide division of Boston's finest lives up to its name. We'll be working with some solid pros."

"Good thinking, not pulling out the 'almost as good as Baltimore' card," Jane whispered to DiNozzo.

"DiNozzo. Ziva. McGee," Gibbs said, stepping from behind Tony to address the group. "You'll work the case with Abby and Ducky in Washington. Me and Kate will work the case here with Homicide."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**  
><strong>Homicide squadroom<strong>

Tony looked at Gibbs in shock: this wasn't how he expected the investigation to go.

"Boss?" Tony replied. "I thought we were-"

"Thought _what_, DiNozzo?" said Gibbs, in no mood for questions, and unconcerned with whatever questions anyone else had.

"Thought we all were working with Homicide on the case."

"We _are_. I'll be here. Kate will be here with me. While the rest of you go back at the Navy Yard," Gibbs said. "_Tonight_."

Korsak and Frost looked at Jane, expecting she'd follow up on Gibbs' statement: in truth, Jane was as much in the dark as anyone else - including Kate, judging by her reaction.

"Ah, well...this _IS_ a joint case, so it makes sense that NCIS will be involved," Jane said. "We'll be in, ah, constant communication with you in Washington, Tony, and Maura will be doing the same with Ducky."

A moment later, Gibbs looked at his D.C. bound agents and liaison officer, waiting for their response.

"We'll do the same with the detectives," Tony finally said, his answer seemingly satisfying Gibbs.

**Division One Cafe**

After determining they wouldn't have enough time to stop at a local restaurant before catching a cab to Logan - and finding a nearby Jewish delicatessen that would deliver - the D.C. bound NCIS team got lunch in the Division One Cafe.

A word from Lt. Cavanaugh kept Stanley quiet about Ziva bringing food into the dining area; Tony, McGee and Ducky ordered from the cafe, with Tony eating two cheeseburgers and making small talk with Jane's mother, Angela.

"Getting more dirt on Rizzoli, Tony?" McGee said as the co-senior agent walked back to their table with his second cheeseburger.

"No dirt on a former, much-missed colleague, Probie," Tony answered. "Just getting acquainted with her mother."

"Just as you attempted to 'get acquainted' with McGee's sister?" Ziva followed.

"If 'getting acquainted' means going through that lady's apartment, maybe we better catch that cab to the airport," McGee said.

"Come on, McJimmyJohns," Tony shot back, pointing to McGee's turkey sub. "Me and Kate, we were just checking up on you again-"

"-and going through the ribbons on my typewriter."

"Speaking of, what were you doing with that? Writing the Great American McNovel?"

"_None_ of your business-"

Ducky put his hand up. "Silence is a virtue, as is the rare-for-your opportunity to eat a quiet lunch without the presence of Jethro," he said - causing Tony and McGee to check their phones.

"Habit," Tony said. "Making sure the boss or Kate haven't texted us."

"Do you expect Gibbs to put us to work so soon after sending us back?" Ziva asked, sincerely, and all three men chuckled.

"Speaking of Gibbs," Tony said, between bites of fries and cheeseburger. "I know he mentioned he and Kate staying here and the rest of us going back, before talking about us all staying up here. Anyone else expect him to split us up?"

"I thought we would take over the case from the local police," Ziva replied.

"I didn't expect _that_," McGee followed. "If it were Metro DC, maybe. I expected we'd all stay here and work with Boston Homicide. Figured we'd get a hotel somewhere."

"Probie's got a point," Tony said. "Gibbs respects Jane, and because he respects her he probably respects her team enough to willing work with them."

"And, the cases for the Washington-area murders are still open; in fact I need to be back to examine the latest victim - Mr. Palmer is still very much a neophyte," Ducky added. "Perhaps Jethro expects - and trusts - you three to solve those particular cases in his absence."

"Makes sense," McGee said, and the others agreed.

Then Tony spoke up.

"But to keep Kate with him? Why?"

"She got to know Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles fairly well," McGee offered. "She was closer to them than the rest of us."

"Perhaps her profiling skills are more beneficial here than they would be in Washington," Ziva added.

"And she could serve as a liaison in case Jethro proved, ah, to be difficult to deal with," Ducky followed. "As he can be with outside authorities."

"Or." Tony said, before finishing up his second burger.

"Or _what_, Tony?" McGee.

"You _know_ what I'm getting at, Probie," Tony replied. "All of you."

"That's bad scuttlebutt," McGee shot back. "Director Shepard must've ordered Gibbs to have Kate stay here and send us back."

"Do you _believe_ that, McGee?" Ziva.

McGee bit into his sandwich and chewed, while Angela attempted to eavesdrop from behind the counter.

"Rule 12," Tony said, "applies to _us_." _Never date a coworker._

"Are you implying he is breaking his own rule?" Ziva replied. "NCIS rules do not forbid dating amongst agents-"

"If you work on his team, you go by _his_ rules, _all_ of them," Tony said. "I've _noticed_ things-"

"What sort of things are you implying, Tony?" Ducky interjected.

"The same sort of things you've noticed _yourself_, Duck. The same sort of things _you've_ seen, McGee, and _you_, Ziva, that Abby and probably even Palmer and most likely the director herself have seen," Tony said in a low voice. "And that half the Navy Yard claims to have seen."

"Are you accusing the boss of breaking his own rules?" McGee said to Tony.

"Probie. I'm not saying I've seen them go on dates, holding hands, making out, sleeping together-"

Angela was cleaning the counter, very slowly, and making mental notes to discuss later on with Jane.

"-but I've noticed glances, looks. Stares. How protective he is of her, as opposed to how he relates to Ziva or Abby. How he talks to her as opposed to the rest of us."

"He's never headslapped her," Ziva observed. "Of course, he's never headslapped Abby, either...are you suggesting-"

"Abby's a daughter to Gibbs," Tony clarified. "Like the one he had that we never, ever talk about."

"Anthony...are you suggesting that Jethro has...feelings for Caitlin?" Ducky.

Tony took a drink of his soda.

"Yep," Tony said. "At least since Ari broke into the morgue, maybe even going back to Air Force One. I can't say for certain they're gettin' busy, but there's something between them. I think he's got it bad for her, and she's got feelings for him...and if you're all honest, you'd admit the same thing."

Ziva, noticing Angela by the counter, spoke in a whisper.

"Tony, perhaps this is not the best place to have this conversation," she cautioned.

"Why _not_? It raised itself when he split us up, and do you really want to talk about this at the Navy Yard-"

"Anthony," Ducky himself cautioned. "Ziva is right. The walls do have ears - and so do parents of certain detectives friendly with members of our own team."

**Homicide squadroom**

"Where are the NCIS agents?" Korsak asked Frost, walking back in from the men's room.

"The ones going back to Washington just caught a cab to Logan; the ones staying here are talking with Cavanaugh," Frost told him. "Jane went in there with them, then stepped out to talk with Dr. Isles."

"Wonder when they'll set a date?" Korsak.

"Jane and Maura?" Frost answered, as he pulled up the Venus de Milo case file from Philadelphia on his screen.

"Of course," Korsak replied. "Who else would I be talking about?"

Frost glanced towards Cavanaugh's office.

"Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd?" Korsak asked; Frost nodded.

"Jane thought Gibbs had a thing for Kate," Frost said. "Told me when we were catching up on cold case files awhile back. Said he might have been in denial, or conflict, over some rule he has for himself and his team about not dating coworkers-"

"He wouldn't be the first one," Korsak replied. "Lots of companies, some police departments, have policies against fraternization."

"Funny thing about the whole deal was how it appeared to be a 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of deal," Frost continued. "She thought it was because of the deal with Haswari, and because the old director was ex-military. And she said Gibbs and Kate never made a move on one another, openly, while she and Maura were working with them."

"If that's true," Korsak said, "it makes sense. They wouldn't be the first workplace couple to stay on the 'down low'."

"Look at you, getting all hip with your vocabulary," Frost teased the veteran detective. "Whatever was going on with them, Jane said they never let it interfere with their jobs."

"Many people don't," Korsak said. "What else did Jane say?"

"Well, Dr. Isles walked in here, overheard Jane, and shushed her before she could spill the rest of the NCIS 'scuttlebutt'," Frost replied, then chuckled. "Dr. Isles already has Jane wrapped around her finger."

"Henpecked," Korsak countered, and both detectives laughed.

**Hallway outside the morgue, Boston P.D.**

Having doublechecked blood samples with Maura and Jordan, Jane walked out of the morgue, and to the elevator.

To Jane's surprise, her mother, Angela, was there. Angela stepped out and grabbed Jane by the arm.

"I need to talk with you," Angela said, with a look of curiosity, concern and disappointment on her face.

"Ma? What's going on?"

Angela then told Jane all about the conversation she overheard Gibbs' team having in the cafe.

"You listened in-Ma! You _listened_ _in_ on them?"

"I couldn't help myself," Angela said, sheepishly.

"And?" Jane countered.

"They were just talking about them being together, and keeping it quiet," Angela said. "I think one of them made me, and I snuck out before they could try to stop me-"

"Stop you?" Jane said. "Stop you from doing _what_?"

"I don't know. Telling you about Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd-"

"Ma," Jane said, reaching out to hug her mother. "Ma. They're good agents, and good people. I saw that myself for almost a whole year...if you're worried about them being bad people or screwing us over-"

"Oh Jane," Angela said, resting her head on Jane's shoulder. "Honey I'm not worried about _that_. It's just...they remind me of that horrible time we all went through last year-"

"They went through it _too_, Ma."

"And I hope they, and you and Maura, never go through anything _like_ it again," Angela moped. "Oh honey-"

"Ma, we'll be _fine_," Jane said, looking her mother in the eye. "They're here to help us catch this lunatic, and when we do, they'll go back to Washington...is something else bothering you?"

"Well, that Lydia girl's been in the cafe the past few days-"

"_Really_? Tommy-"

"But that's not what I'm referring to," Angela admitted. "I was going to ask you about Agent Gibbs when I saw him in the cafe. I was going to ask you if he's _single_."

"And...when you heard his team talk...you thought he was taken...oh _Ma_."

Jane embraced her Ma, again. "You'll find someone. You're beautiful, smart, determined, strong, and there're plenty of guys out there interested in you...even if they're not Gibbs."

Angela sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye. "Maybe you're right, Jane. You found someone" - nodding towards the morgue - "and I'll find someone else, _too_."

"Come on," Jane said, as she guided Angela back to the elevator. "Stanley's gotta be goin' nuts by himself."

As they waited for the elevator to reach their floor, a thought occurred to Jane.

_Yes. It was a good thing Ma saw Gibbs interested in someone else. I like the guy, but I would not want him to be my stepfather._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**  
><strong>Boston<strong>

Gibbs looked for an empty room in the BPD Division One building, anywhere someone wouldn't listen in on him.

He settled for the sidewalk outside the building entrance.

Gibbs paced the sidewalk, looking for the place where Rizzoli shot herself to kill the bastard who held a gun to her head and nearly killed her brother.

It, Gibbs told her long ago, was a hell of a risk - and one he'd have headslapped Jane into next week for if she had been on his team.

In reality, Gibbs would have half-heartedly read her the riot act. There was no other choice she could have made, he realized, and he was happy she made it through.

God only knows what Ari might have done with Dr. Isles had Jane Rizzoli not been around to watch out for her.

Satisfied no one was directly eavesdropping on him, Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and punched in the phone number for NCIS Director Jenny Shepard.

The phone rang 11 times before the director finally picked up. She took the call outside her office, next to her secretary's desk.

"I'm in a _meeting_, Jethro," Jenny said, annoyed at the interruption.

"You _wanted_ a sitrep, Jen, didn't you?" Gibbs replied, unconcerned about whatever Jenny was doing at the moment.

"SecNav does not like to be kept waiting, Jethro - but yes, I wanted an update."

Gibbs told her about the two women found in Boston earlier in the day, encased in plaster, and his decision to send everyone but Kate and himself back to Washington.

"So why you and _Caitlin_, Jethro?" Jenny asked. "Why not you and Tony, or Ziva, or even McGee. Or one of them and Kate?"

"Questioning my decisions, Jen?" Gibbs replied; Jenny hated his tone, the same one that suggested he didn't want to be bothered with explaining himself to anyone, much less his own boss.

Or that he got up on the wrong side of his boat that morning.

"In case you forgot - Agent Gibbs - I am the _director_, and when I have questions about your decision process, you answer those questions to my satisfaction," Jenny shot back.

"My 'decision process' is my gut's telling me something's going on up here and I want to investigate it _here_, not from Washington," he told Jenny. "Kate knows Rizzoli, and if Boston PD gives us problems she can help smooth things over."

"As in being a liaison to Boston Police?" Jenny retorted. "Or as in how you asked me to smooth things over with Interpol back in Paris?"

_Goddam it,_ Jenny, Gibbs thought. _It's not like that at all._

"Jethro?"

"I don't want DiNozzo up here. I want him down there; he's more than capable of running part of the investigation down there without screwing things up. Kate can work with Homicide and talk them out of getting in our way and help me find who's responsible."

"Who's going to talk you out of getting in their way?" Jenny said, impatiently.

"_Their_ way?"

"Yes, Jethro. _Their_ way. Which you are _not_ going to get in. They have their own cases, and I promised Lieutenant Cavanaugh you wouldn't run roughshod over their people nor their investigations-"

"Dammit, Jen. I'm trying to catch the bastard who's killed all these women-"

"Your reputation doesn't include 'work well with others'."

"C'mon, Jen. Give me more credit than that."

"Jethro," Jenny said, looking at her watch. "As much as I enjoy our spirited conversations, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this one short, so I don't leave the Secretary of the Navy waiting one second longer than the ten minutes he's already waited too long for. You and I will talk later, about the case - and about your personnel choices."

Gibbs heard a click on his cell, half-chuckled and half-groaned, then dialed the morgue at the Navy Yard; he knew Ducky would call his assistant, Jimmy Palmer, first thing after he and the others disembarked off their flight from Logan Airport.

Palmer stammered through the conversation - to Gibbs' great annoyance - but got the message: have DiNozzo and Ducky call me when they get off the plane.

Gibbs hung up, and wondered where the nearest coffee shop was, before settling for the cafe in the building behind him. It was still open, and whatever they served was much better than the instant crap in the Mr. Coffee machine in Homicide's squadroom.

He also took note of the officer sitting in the squad car 15 feet from Gibbs' position.

_Not a bad effort for someone who wants to be a detective,_ Gibbs thought of the man in the car,_ though I can smell Frankie Rizzoli from a mile away._

**Morgue**

Kate Todd had gotten over her discomfort with corpses during her time at NCIS. If you couldn't stomach seeing a dead person - much less watching Ducky conduct an autopsy - you had no chance of staying on Gibbs' team.

That didn't mean Kate was as comfortable around corpses as Ducky, or Dr. Isles and Dr. Cavanaugh, were. She tolerated it as part of the job; Ducky's efforts at making her more comfortable in the morgue helped a great deal, too - and she hadn't told him that enough.

Kate really preferred to be amongst the living. One bad thing already happened in the NCIS morgue, to Palmer's predecessor Gerald Jackson, and Kate didn't think about how she herself could have ended up on one of Ducky's slabs.

It only came back to her in her nightmares.

The three women lying on the slabs before her - the older woman with the Cruella de Ville streak in her hair, and the two much younger women - unnerved Kate a little more than usual. But why?

Kate examined one of the women - Petty Officer Stanton - and looked closely at the cuts in her arms. _That's it,_ Kate thought. _This...creep cutting off her arms. That's what's creeping me out._

She pulled up the portion of the sheet covering Petty Officer Stanton's feet, remembering something Jordan had mentioned. Kate looked at Stanton's feet, then at Cruella's and the other woman's.

_Cigarette burns. That's weird. Creepy. As if this isn't weird and creepy enough._

Kate pulled the sheet back over Stanton's feet, and looked around her. The windows in the room were comforting, as were the sun rays peeking through.

_Were those windows the reason Maura picked this room?_ Kate thought. _Kind of a woman's touch - much more than that steely place Ducky and Palmer work in._

_Ugh._

Kate wasn't about to check out the back entrance, where Maura's bodies were brought in.

She really wasn't down here to look at the victims, anyway.

It was to clear her head.

"God only knows what everyone else is saying and thinking," Kate whispered. "Gibbs and I. Me and Gibbs."

Kate understood she was here to serve as a liaison between Gibbs and Homicide in case things didn't work out. She also knew Gibbs respect her investigative abilities and had come to see her on the same level as Tony; he damn well better, given how well he had trained her and how hard she worked to get there.

Gibbs treated her as uniquely as he treated the others - sometimes brusque, sometimes kind, sometimes oh-so-gentle and always honest.

"I see the same things in you I saw in your sister," Gibbs once told Kate, shortly after she failed to kill Ari in Ducky's morgue, and she beat herself up over it. She told Gibbs her sister Julie would have killed Ari, easily.

"Probably," Gibbs replied. "_You're_ the one on my team. Your sister belongs in Los Angeles, with Vance. You're good. You'll learn, won't make the same damn mistake again."

"Because you'll fire me if I do."

"Because you _won't_ make the same mistake again," Gibbs repeated, before walking away.

It was another in an occasional series of events that made Kate wonder about the man...and her feelings for him.

In Kate's regimented world, family was family, coworkers were coworkers, and both were as separate as church and state; never the twain should meet.

NCIS - specifically, Gibbs' team - blew that all to shreds.

Kate spent as much time with her flesh and blood in the past two years as she did in a typical month with her teammates. Abby had become as much of a sister to her as Rachel and Julie, annoying Tony was almost as close to her as her FBI brother Daniel and Uncle Ducky had become a friend.

Given enough time, she'd grow close to McGee and Palmer, too. Maybe even Ziva - if she didn't get sent back to her crazy Mossad father, kicking and screaming.

And then there was Gibbs. Jethro. Leroy. Bastard, Silver Fox, Gunny, Boss.

Gibbs has a Rule 12 - never date a coworker - that is law for his team. She knew full well that dating coworkers and sleeping with them was a very bad idea, even as she broke it more than once.

After the incident on Air Force One, and Lieutenant Kerry's death, Kate swore to herself she would never come close to breaking anyone's Rule 12, ever again.

So why was she considering doing the same with her own supervisor?

"God only knows what everyone else is saying about this," Kate muttered to herself as she walked to the front entrance. "I know why I'm here...and Gibbs is here...and why Tony's not..."

Kate stopped herself. _This is not the time nor the place to think about that. We have a case to solve._

She walked out of the morgue, towards the elevator, ignoring senior criminalist Susie Chang, whom had observed her from the hallway and made a mental note of what Kate had said to herself.

Whatever Susie heard and saw didn't amount to much, because Kate kept the more important, and incriminating, parts of her internal monologue unspoken.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Downtown Boston**  
><strong>Dennis Rockmond's apartment<strong>

"Yes...I'll be there...11:45 is fine...speech and meet-and-greet...okay. Providence, Springfield, Stamford...and an appearance on Channel 2. Alright, all that sounds good. We'll touch base at the book signing...good bye."

Dennis Rockmond, by all outward appearances, is a successful man.

Motivational speaker. Best-selling author. Up and coming sculptor. Good looks. Money. Sex appeal. Women.

One radio talk show host called Rockmond the next Anthony Robbins. The female co-host of Boston's top-rated morning TV show practically threw herself at him in the show's green room. Four of the New England Patriots cheerleaders nearly got into a catfight over which one would date him. The Boston Dispatch gossip columnist anointed him as 'Boston's finest bachelor'.

Yes, in the eyes of the world Dennis Rockmond was already a successful man headed towards stardom.

Inwardly, Dennis Rockmond was a cauldron of bitterness, rage, hate, pain and paranoia.

He had masked it and managed it well enough over the years, from the time he was abandoned as a child, wandering the country and falling in with a variety of survivalists and fringe groups. He cared nothing about their rhetoric; he learned as much as he could from survivalists and former Marines, Green Berets and SEALs on how to fight, how to arm himself, how to live on the run.

Becoming Dennis Rockmond as a teenager, he used his intelligence and good looks - and hard work in the classroom - to charm his way out of an inner-city public school into a scholarship at a major public university. He graduated with honors with a degree in business; by age 30, he had risen to the vice presidency of a media company, which he parlayed into his second career in motivational speaking.

He had the good fortune to earn a ton of money, which he then funneled into funding his secret obsession, which he decided to drop after thinking he would never find the mother who abandoned him.

That's when he decided to retire and start over south of the border. All he needed was a little extra cash.

Through his less-than-savory contacts, Rockmond found out someone was looking for a mercenary. He didn't give a damn who or why, just that for raising a little hell and possibly having to kidnap and kill a couple of women, he'd be able to live out his Mexican retirement for a long, long time.

The feds took care of that, and it took all of Rockmond's advance money and skills and some luck to keep one step ahead. Still, the FBI was on his trail, and he finally decided that Mark Dugan's time was up.

On a Sunday morning, Mark Dugan made as sure of his demise as he possibly could. He walked away from the Charles River, cold and wet, firmly settled into his Dennis Rockmond identity.

Rockmond made connections, wined and dined Boston's elite, while secretly looking for opportunities to work out his mommy issues. The success and his off-hours work couldn't mask the pain and pointlessness he felt - nor did it overcome his growing desire to end it all.

The night before the incident in the cab, he once again 'worked through his issues' with some whore in Foxborough. He underestimated the amount of inderal he accidentially ingested after she switched their drinks; she caught onto him, and later he realized the adrenaline from attacking and killing her may have kept him from succumbing in his apartment.

Rockmond remembered feeling queasy after telling the driver to take him to Logan, then regaining consciousness - barely - in that morgue, with the medical examiner looking at him.

He fully remembered the incident after coming to in the hospital, and quickly matched the M.E. with the job that nearly got him caught by the feds.

She - Dr. Maura Isles - was one of the women that the man who hired Mark Dugan was looking to kidnap, and kill.

She was one of the reasons Mark Dugan had to go away, and Dennis Rockmond constantly looked for the feds to catch up with him.

He wondered if she might have recognized him as one of the men involved in the Boston terrorist attacks last year. He wondered if she had taken his photo and fingerprints and sent them on to the feds.

Whatever thoughts Rockmond had of offing himself, of giving into his occasional moments of suicide, ending his internal pain, went away when he woke up in Dr. Isles' morgue.

Rockmond had a new mission. He would keep getting rid of the whores until he found the one who brought him into this miserable world, and he would also find and get rid of the four people who could effectively end his life.

To accomplish this would mean he'd have to lure the NCIS agents out of D.C., to Boston: he had no chance of taking care of them on their home turf. So he'd lure them to Boston - which he did, successfully - and now that they were in his backyard, Rockmond was confident he'd be able to take them out just as he was of taking out Rizzoli and Isles.

His reward wouldn't be Ari's money, but peace of mind.

**Boston Police Department, Division One headquarters**  
><strong>Division One Cafe<strong>

Officer Frankie Rizzoli walked in as he had a thousand times before, and groaned when he saw Stanley, not his Ma, at the counter.

"What?" Stanley grumbled. "You gonna stand there all day?"

"Gimme a large soda," Frankie replied, not in the mood to argue with Ma's boss. He paid Stanley for the soda, then sat down at table near the counter. He looked out towards the lobby, and saw Gibbs.

The NCIS agent made eye contact, nodded towards the street, then walked away, toward the elevator.

Frankie realized he had been made. And groaned. If he couldn't even hide in a squad car without being made, how was he ever going to become a detective?

He was oblivious to Susie Chang walking in to the cafe, and didn't notice her standing in front of him until she repeated herself.

"Excuse me, Officer Rizzoli?"

"Oh..oh! I'm sorry," Frankie said to Susie. "Please, have a seat."

Susie sat down. "Can I get you a soda, or some coffee?" Susie shook her head. "Is there something I can do for you?"

She looked out towards the lobby, then around the cafe, then at Frankie. "Officer, you're Detective Rizzoli's brother, and Dr. Isles' future brother-in-law."

"Uh..yeah, last time I checked, I was still Jane's brother," Frankie said, smiling. "And if they ever set a date, Maura'll be my sister...what's up?"

Susie looked out to the lobby, again.

"It's regarding those agents," she said, her voice at a half-whisper.

"The NCIS guys - or guy and that girl who looks like Maura?" Susie nodded. "What's going on...you hear something?"

Susie told Frankie about eavesdropping on Kate Todd looking at the bodies of the Venus de Milo victims in Maura's morgue, and what she thought she heard Kate say to herself.

It matched what Frankie overheard Gibbs say outside the building.

"You worried about them, Susie?" Frankie asked her. "Jane vouches for them both, and I met the guy. I think they're on the up and up-"

"It's Dr. Isles, and your sister Jane," Susie admitted. "I don't want whatever is going on with these people to affect them."

"You're worried. About Maura and Jane."

"Yeah."

"Don't be. Whatever that is, it sounds like a personal thing, and I know that guy isn't one to let his personal life wreck havoc on an investigation-"

"But shouldn't our people be aware of it?" Susie said, this time more direct and insistent than Frankie knew the usually soft-spoken woman to be. "I feel the need to inform Dr. Isles; I don't like eavesdropping on strangers, but if it could adversely affect the people we work with, I think someone should know...don't you?"

Frankie took a deep breath, and glanced at his watch: his break was close to being over.

"Look, let's not jump to any conclusions, okay?" Frankie said. "Let's keep an eye on these people and see what-"

"I think you should inform your sister and Lt. Cavanaugh," Susie replied, getting out of her seat. "I am going to inform Dr. Isles."

With that, Susie scurried out of the cafe, presumably towards the morgue or Maura's office.

"Hey Rizzoli!" yelled Frankie's boss, Sergeant Payne. "Break's over. Stop lollygagging around - let's go!"

Frankie jumped up, threw his soda into the nearest trash can, and went back to work; he hoped he'd be able to find Jane - or at least Korsak or Frost - before Susie found Maura.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Boston**

**Homicide, BPD Division One HQ**

Cavanaugh walked out of his office, Gibbs and Kate alongside him, and yelled to everyone in the room to get their attention.

Cavanaugh and Gibbs reviewed the case: all of the victims were women, all but one in their 20s or early 30s, with "Cruella" - who was much older - the exception. The first round of killings took place along the East Coast down to Florida, with the second round in Washington and in Boston.

The victims were either Naval/Marine personnel or prostitutes, all encased in plaster and all painted in bronze. The body types were all identical, and the faces on the plaster are exactly alike; Gibbs' team is working on the assumption the killer is using a cast.

The Naval and Marine personnel amongst the victims were all found in public, high-traffic spots, easily found by local citizens and law enforcement. The prostitutes were also found in public spots intended for use by children.

"Why NCIS," asked Detective Woody Hoyt. "Why not FBI? They have a team that finds creeps like this."

"My choice," Cavanaugh said. "That FBI team you're talking about investigates cases at the invitational of local agencies. There's already a team of federal agents" - nodding to Gibbs - "investigating this case."

"We wanted first crack at finding the killer, since some of his victims are Naval and Marine personnel," Gibbs replied. "I have contacts at the FBI and I was able to convince them to hold off while we conducted our investigation."

Jane made brief eye contact at Kate and mouthed 'what really happened?'

'Later' Kate mouthed back.

What 'happened' was Gibbs called his friend, FBI Senior Agent Tobias Fornell, and told him to "keep Hotchner and BAU out of this till I'm done."

The debriefing concluded with Gibbs stating that he and Kate would stay and work with Homicide in finding the killer.

He didn't say how long.

For all Kate and Jane knew, Gibbs might decide to stay up there forever, if that's how long it took to find the killer.

**Division One Cafe**

"They're worried about _Gibbs_ and _Caitlin_?"

Maura sat in the corner table, across from Jane, her mouth agape.

"Yes, Maur. My officer brother and your head assistant are convinced that something 'hinky' is going on between Gibbs and Kate and that somehow it's gonna blow up the world."

"Jane, I'm confident we both can agree their heightened level of concern is unwarranted, yes?"

"Yes..._yeah_. But they think those two are sleeping together and Gibbs is up here to take over and take control of our lives like..._that's_ what this is about."

Maura knew what Jane was about to say. "Yes. That _has_ to be their concern. _Us_."

"They're both worried Gibbs is gonna take us away and take over our lives like last year...which _he_ didn't, and as far as we and anybody else knows this creep is no threat to us."

"Jane, I'll talk with Susie when I return to the lab...don't be too hard on Frankie. They both mean well."

Jane reached out and grasped Maura's hands. "I know, sweetie...but Frankie's a _guy_. It's not gonna bother him if I _yell_ at him a little bit."

Maura chuckled, and smiled; Jane loved see that look in her love's eyes, and that smile.

"Love you," Jane said, reaching over and planting a quick kiss on Maura's lips.

"Mmm," Maura purred, unable to break the kiss, staring into Jane's deep brown eyes while her heart quivered just a bit.

Their moment was shattered by a surprise visitor...one very unwelcome to Jane.

"Ladies?" said Dennis Rockmond, holding a book. "I'm very sorry to interrupt and I didn't mean to eavesdrop...but I thought you both would be here and I wanted to say hello."

Maura, caught off guard, was polite in her reply: "That's quite alright, Mr. Rockmond...please, sit down."

Jane wasn't so polite.

"No," she said curtly. "Mr. Rockhead can stand up...Maura and I were about to leave."

'Rockhead', after having his life saved by Maura's quick thinking three months ago in the morgue, called her again, and again, and again to set up a date. Jane quickly put her foot down, told Rockmond she and Maura were a couple, and not to bother them again or else. 'Rockhead', she told Frost and Korsak, simply said 'okay' and hung up.

Maura seemed to have forgotten about the man fairly quickly. Jane hadn't, and had Rockmond, along with a few other men, on her mental list of _'creeps to kick in the ass and throw in the slammer should they ever appear in our lives again and hit on Maura or worse'_.

"Three months, and you couldn't even _bother_ with an apology?" Jane finally said, standing face to face with the man.

"You're right," Rockmond replied. "I should have apologized instead of walking away - I thought apologizing would have made things worse-"

"If it was sincere, it wouldn't have," Jane shot back.

"Jane," Maura said, putting her hand on Jane's forearm.

"I'm here to apologize now," Rockmond continued. "I misjudged your relationship and I was inappropriate in how I acted. I understand now you two are a couple, which I fully respect and appreciate, and I ask your forgiveness for how I acted before and hope I can somehow make it up to you."

"Alright," said Jane, who didn't move to shake Rockmond's hand as he held it out for her and Maura.

Maura did return the gesture, with a polite smile - and an '_are you kidding me_?' glare from Jane. "We accept your apology," Maura said. "It was thoughtful of you to come by and do so."

"Thank you, ladies," Rockmond said to the couple. "As another gesture of my regret over my actions, and as a token of my appreciation for your kind response, I'd like to give you a copy of my book and offer an invitation to an appearance I'm making this evening."

Rockmond handed the book to Jane.

"'_Release Your Inner Winner and Win_'." Jane said, in a monotone voice.

"It's a _New York Times_ best seller," he replied - speaking to Maura. "Number seven, second week on the list." He then pulled out a business card, with the address of the bookstore written on the back, handing it to Maura and maintaining eye contact. "Here, this is my card, and it would be my honor to have you both in attendance."

"It's...such short notice...but thank you for the invitation," Maura said, very politely and - to Jane - a bit unnerved.

"We have _other_ plans," Jane interjected, strongly, grasping Maura's free hand and drawing her close, side-by-side, glaring at Rockmond.

"I..see," he finally said, smiling, before stepping backwards. "Well, if you decide to change your minds, I'll have your names on a list at the bookstore. Tell the manager who you are and they'll bring you right to the front row...and thank you for seeing me, and perhaps we'll see each other around."

Rockmond nodded, and walked away, and out of the cafe; as he passed through the door, he saw Gibbs and Kate coming in, nodded, and went on his way.

"Maura, you accepted that guy's _apology_?" Jane said, flustered. "Should've let me _handle_ it!"

"Jane, it was the right thing to do," Maura said. "Not accepting his apology does nothing to better the situation, and only makes one look worse-"

"That's guy's a creep! We got enough dealing with this serial killer, and now this creep comes around," Jane continued. "You let me handle it, I would've gotten rid of him. Notice how he was looking at you?"

"He wasn't looking at me, Jane-"

"_BullSHIT_, Maura! He was totally trying to get you on his side while he was babbling out his crap-"

Jane's mom, Angela was behind the counter, and thankful that almost no one else was around. Then she saw the two NCIS agents walking towards her, and blushed.

"How can I help you?" she asked, hoping they hadn't noticed the exchange.

"Coffee. Large, black, no cream, no sugar," he said, handing Angela a $10.

"Same, except leave room for cream," Kate replied, glancing back at Jane and Maura's animated conversation, then noticing Angela's anguished look. "Everything alright, Ms. Rizzoli?"

"Yes, it's fine, I'm fine," she replied, looking back at Jane and Maura, now engaged in a staring contest. "No...no I'm not."

"They're fighting?" Kate asked.

"I think they _are_," Angela replied, and recapped seeing Rockmond walk in and talk with Jane and Maura. "I couldn't overhear the conversation, but I could tell Jane was upset and Maura, she was trying to be polite - she's always polite - and now I'm afraid I'm seeing them fight."

Gibbs glanced over to the couple; Maura seemed to be getting the upper hand, judging by her smile and Jane's pout.

"I can tell you about fights, Ms. Rizzoli, and that's no fight," he said. "They'll be fine."

"Good," Angela replied, handing both their coffees. "Are you married, Mr. Gibbs?"

Kate did a double take. _Was Angela Rizzoli-?_

"You can call me Gibbs," he replied, sipping his coffee. "Was married...three ex-wives."

"I see," Angela replied, noticing Jane's mouth flying open at seeing Gibbs and Kate, and her mouthing 'did they see all of that?' at Maura. "Agent Todd-"

"Feel free to call me Kate, Ms. Rizzoli," she replied.

"Then I insist you both call me Angela," Angela continued. "Kate. Is there someone in your life?"

Before Kate could respond, Jane ran over and stopped between Kate and Gibbs, and stared at her mother.

"_Ma_!"

"_What_ Jane? I'm just asking _questions_. Getting to know your friends a little _more_. What did that man _say_ to you?"

As Jane recapped her and Maura's conversation with 'Rockhead', Kate decided that Jane must have gotten her detective skills from her mother's side of the family - Angela was definitely one to snoop and keep tabs on things and people she thought might affect those she cared about.

Kate then realized that included her and Gibbs.

"Jane, if you want, I'll go there and tell this guy to leave you alone," Gibbs said.

"Thanks, Gibbs," Jane said. "But if it gets that bad where I can't handle 'Mr. Inner Winner', then Frankie and Frost and Korsak and Tommy'll line up and knock some sense into him."

Everyone laughed, and Angela spoke up. "You won't have time to go there _anyway_, Gibbs," she told him. "I'm making dinner tonight at Maura's, and I'm inviting you and Kate to be my guests."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Northeast Airways Shuttle Flight 089**  
><strong>flying over the New York-Pennsylvania state border<strong>

Ziva David looked out the side window, onto the rural New York countryside, lost in thought.

A year ago she was burning up in a hut somewhere in Somalia, helping her brother track down a woman in Idaho whose misfortune was to look like agent Caitlin Todd.

The pressure she was under - to be Ari's second while secretly subverting his actions and passing on intel to Mossad and the FBI and CIA - was extraordinary.

She weathered the pressure, but was finally made and had to be extracted, weeks before firing the fatal shot that ended her brother's reign of terror.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ziva?" asked her seat mate, Tony DiNozzo. Ducky Mallard and Tim McGee sat in the twin seats opposite them in the middle section of the commuter jet taking them to Dulles International.

"My thoughts?"

_Perhaps he means how difficult it has been to become an accepted part of the team. The incident. The attempted assault during the director's team-building exercise, and I working with Agent Todd and Abby to apprehend the...misfit. The director's awards ceremony, trying to make me feel better, as if that was even necessary._

"I...I am _fine_, Tony," Ziva said abruptly, then realizing her tone, before turning to look at DiNozzo. "Thank you for your concern," she said more softly.

"If it's the team," Tony replied, "you've come a long way. Hell, for me, this was nothing but a job my first couple of years. It's taken a while for me to see this team as, you know, like family."

"Family." _Ari. Tali. Mama. Abba._

"Yeah, family," Tony continued. "No siblings. My mom...died...and my dad's off doing his own thing. Everybody on the team, grown on me, including you, the siblings, Ducky the grandpa, and Gibbs the uncle I never had...maybe _that's_ what Jenny had in mind."

"Jenny?"

"When she did whatever she did to get you here. She gave you a chance to start over, with people you could get close to, doing something different...give it time. Relationships, friendships don't happen overnight. They come with growing pains that you work through. Keep at it, Ziva."

Ziva was silent for several seconds. "Family," she finally said. "What about Gibbs breaking Rule 12?"

"What about it?"

"What would _that_ do to your, our, little 'family'?"

Now Tony was speechless.

"Do you have issues with this, Tony? Or not?"

"Well...maybe," Tony replied, with a gleam in his eye. "Maybe not. Agency doesn't have that rule, just Gibbs. Besides. Maybe the old man saw what Rizzles had and got envious - or maybe he learned that redheads weren't working out for him-"

"Tony!"

"-and Kate has said she wants to have a baby," Tony continued. "Wonder how many _Kibblets_ she can pop out before the old man wears down-"

"_Tony_! _You_ were the one raising concerns in that cafe and now you are making jokes about the matter."

Tony looked at Ziva. "_Someone_ had to," he said. "Everyone is thinking it, especially the director...besides. I wanted to say 'Kibblets'. Who's thinking about _that_? You know, first thing when we get back, I'm having McSnoring over there pull up that program. I wanna see just what a litter of Kibblets would look like-"

Ziva rolled her eyes, wondering what kind of 'family' she had found herself a part of.

And if a relationship between its head and one of his agents would bring it closer or tear it apart.

**Boston**  
><strong>BPD Division One HQ, Homicide squadroom<strong>

Korsak and Frost were at their desks tracking leads on the Venus de Milo killer.

"I'll call the detective in St. Petersburg and follow up with her," Frost said.

"And I'll call St. Louis," Korsak replied. "That's the only case not in an Eastern Seaboard city...otherwise, it's identical to every other case, down to the face mask."

"And like all the other cases, it went cold," Frost replied.

"Let me know if you find out anything out of the ordinary from St. Petersburg," Korsak said. "And don't forget to inform Agent Gibbs, even if it's nothing new."

"Guy's probably already talked to them," Frost replied, calling up a file on his desktop. "That's what Jane said. Everytime she was on one of his cases she'd go to tell him about it and he already knew. She never could figure that out."

"Then we should just ask _him_ who the killer is," Korsak quipped.

"He'd say that's _our_ job - according to what Jane told me," Frost said. "Speaking of Gibbs-"

"Is this about he and agent Todd?" Korsak whispered.

"_NO_," Frost replied, in a loud stage-whispered, then spoke normally. "But, they _did_ remind me of something else. Come over and look."

Frost called up a file, comparing Kate Todd's NCIS ID with that of one of her sisters, and with Maura's medical examiner's ID.

"Kate on the left, Maura on the right," Frost said, in a low voice. "Kate has three brothers and two sisters, one of which we see in the middle."

"A twin," Korsak followed.

"Julie Todd," Frost continued. "NCIS Special Agent. Worked as a detective in Los Angeles, before joining NCIS. Official status is classified - Jane says she works in special operations. Undercover work."

"If you didn't know any of them, you might assume they're triplets, or family," Korsak said. "Where are the Todds from again?"

"Indianapolis. Maura of course is from Boston. But she's also adopted-"

"By the Isles family. Paddy Doyle is her real father, and Dr. Hope Martin is her birth mother. We found that out after Haswari was killed."

"But Korsak. If you look at the Todd sisters and compare them to Maura, other than the age difference you see no reason to assume they're not related."

Korsak looked at the photos, then at Frost. "You're saying that Dr. Isles might be related to the Todds? Didn't we have that conversation a year ago?"

"We had a conversation about the fact that Haswari targeted numerous women who resembled Kate Todd, including Maura," Frost clarified. "Jane said they considered the possibility but tests were inconclusive...what if they didn't conduct a test? Or falsified the results?"

"You're saying they lied about not doing a test or lied about the results?" Korsak said. "Are you suggesting Dr. Isles might be their sister?"

"I think we have to look into the possibility," Frost said, "especially since one of the sisters are here, right now."

"Well, good luck in getting either one of them and _especially_ agent _Gibbs_ to sign off on it," Korsak concluded. "We have other matters to worry about anyway - like calling St. Louis and St. Petersburg."

**McGuillicutty's bookstore, ten blocks from the BPD Division One building**

Dennis Rockmond got out of his Corvette - one of several sports and luxury automobiles he owned - and walked towards the side entrance of the bookstore building, generally used for VIPs and guest authors.

Rockmond liked to keep his mind strictly on business when on the job, but couldn't help but reflect on his 'conversation' with Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles - and on seeing Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Kate Todd as he left the cafe.

None of them would be likely to show up for his book signing, but he'd have plenty of time to reflect on them afterwards, while creating his latest piece back at his apartment.

They'd even get to see it first hand in the morning.

**BPD Div. One HQ, parking lot**

"You agreed to dinner with the Rizzolis?" Kate said to Gibbs, as they walked towards their rental cars.

"That surprise you, Kate?"

"...yeah. A little. Figured you'd eat coffee while tracking down this killer - and that I'd be right alongside you. Not the first time you ordered us not to eat until we found some creep."

"Not gonna starve, Kate," he replied. "You're invited, too - after you drop your bags off in Dr. Isles' guest room."

That surprised Kate.

"Gibbs?...I can't _impose_ on them...and I thought I was staying in the same hotel you were?"

_She looks a bit hurt,_ Gibbs thought. _Truth be told, I'd like her with me._

"It's for the _best_, Kate," Gibbs said. "I get the hotel three blocks from the police building. You get to stay with Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles. Agency gets to save money-"

"They're not reimbursing her, Gibbs?"

"Dr. Isles's idea. She's _waiting_ for you...agency will reimburse her for the wireless connection to Washington which you'll use to contact Abby and DiNozzo and me when you're at Dr. Isles' house."

"So we're still working 24/7."

"The bastard who's murdering these women is out there 24/7, Kate," Gibbs followed, "and we'll be, too, until we find him...now see you at the house."

Gibbs got in his car, and pulled out of the lot, leaving Kate behind.

She really wanted some alone time with him.

_Was this his way of telling me things were going too fast?_ thought Kate, as she locked her doors and looked around before pulling out of her parking space. _No. This is Jenny. She suspects something is up._

"Maybe I should ask _her_, since she acts like she knows every damn thing that's going on with the team," Kate muttered to herself. "And _I'm_ not totally sure what's up between...me and Gibbs."

Gibbs, driving in his car to the nearby hotel, called director Sheppard, and debriefed her.

"Good thinking Jethro," Jenny chided him, "by _following orders_ this time. We WILL reimburse Dr. Isles for her time and trouble, by the way...and I absolutely don't have to worry about you and Caitlin being together."

"Won't have to worry about it regardless, Jen," Gibbs shot back.

"Actually, Jethro, I _do_. Especially considering how important it is to solve this case. She's _there_ and you're at the _hotel_. Are you going to deny her all three meals and make her mainline caffeine until you find this bastard?"

Gibbs chuckled. "Not gonna go _that_ far, Jen. Besides. We're having dinner tonight, with the Rizzolis."

"Dinner-_dinner_. With the _Rizzolis_."

"Not _alone_, Jen."

"Good. I hope you _enjoy_ it," Jenny replied. "For _this_ case, I'm holding you to Rule 12. Once it's solved and you two return, the three of us will talk about it..."

As the director continued talking, Gibbs smiled to himself. He wasn't even going to come close to touching Kate here in Boston.

The old Gibbs wouldn't have tolerated it. That Gibbs had reasserted himself, pushing the other Gibbs - the one who dared to consider breaking Rule 12 with his own agent - to the background.

What happened after the killer was found, in regards to Kibbs and Rule 12, was anybody's guess.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Boston**  
><strong>Maura Isles' residence<strong>

"I apologize," said Maura Isles, after walking Kate Todd into her guest room.

"Apologize for _what_?" Kate said, surprised at Maura's apology: the room looked immaculate. "Everything looks just fine."

Maura relaxed, as she saw Kate's reaction. "I didn't have any time to check the room myself before you arrived," Maura explained, as Kate put her bags down next to the bed. "After your director asked me to provide a place for you to stay, I was anxious about finding a maid to clean the room - and fortunate that my service was able to provide someone on such short notice."

Kate scanned the room, briefly noting the decor of the furniture, and decorative paintings and sculpture.

"I went with a late 18th-century motif," Maura said. "The painting above the computer is one by William Bradford Copley, not to be confused with the contemporary 20th century artist William Copley."

"Er...of course not," Kate replied; she herself had a passing knowledge of American painters. _This is like Tony gushing about that post-World War II Japanese movie. What was it? Seven Soldiers? _

"...seven samurais?" Kate mumbled, lost in thought.

"Pardon me?" Maura replied.

"Oh...oh, sorry," Kate said. "My mind...wandered momentarily. I was thinking that...I've never heard of this artist...and it was like when Tony told me about this movie he saw."

"Oh," Maura said, pausing for a moment. "Was it _Seven Samurai_?"

"Yeah...Tony said it was by a legendary director whose name I totally forgot-"

"Akira Kurosawa," Maura said. "Seven Samurai, from 1954, a period piece set in the late 14th century...Kurosawa is an amazing, legendary director. In fact...I may have the DVD downstairs if you would like to watch it?"

"I don't want to impose, Maura, any more than I already have-"

"You aren't imposing, Caitlin. It's my pleasure and honor to have you as my guest."

"...well thank you," Kate said. "Perhaps we can watch it, after dinner, and after I get settled in and check with Tony back in Washington."

Kate looked at the very modern computer sitting on top of an equally modern desk, and turned to Maura. "I'm guessing that wasn't part of the 'motif'."

Maura chuckled. "No," she replied. "That is what I am told is a 'loaner' from the FBI, according to your brother."

Kate took a few moments to reflect, then smacked her forehead. "Oh my god. Danny. I _forgot_ he worked here!...how could I have forgotten that?"

Danny being Daniel Todd, the head of the FBI's field office in Boston, and the middle of Kate's three brothers.

"Relax," Maura said to Kate. "He said he 'figured' you would, with Gibbs running you all over town, and he didn't want to bother you so soon in the investigation. He said you could, and should, call him tonight, after dinner - and that you and Gibbs were invited for dinner at his place tomorrow evening."

"Well...thank you," Kate told Maura, then looked at the clock in the room. "He's probably about to sit down for dinner with Jessica and Wesley-do you mind if I call him real quick?"

"Not at all," Maura said, and Kate pulled out her cell phone. "That will give me an opportunity to help Angela finish preparing our own dinner."

**Maura's dining room**

Angela took on the responsibility of preparing dinner - although Maura insisted on helping and recruited Jane to assist - and kept things simple.

The main course was lasagna, both meat and vegetarian, with Italian bread; an antipasto plate; green salad, with a choice between four creamy and three oily dressings handpicked by Angela herself; red wine; beer (for Jane); and a dessert of Boston cream cheesecake or fresh berries and cannoli cream.

On one side of the dinner table, Maura and Kate broke the ice by discussing the meal, with Angela eagerly joining in from her seat at the head of the table.

The others weren't talking.

Jane - sitting next to Maura - and the men on the opposite side of the table - Tommy and Frankie Rizzoli - wolfed down their lasagna.

Gibbs, sitting next to Angela and across from Kate, listened politely as he ate his dinner.

"We've dominated the conversation long enough," Angela decided, looking at Gibbs, then her own children - Frankie, Tommy, Jane and Maura (whom she considered as much her daughter as Jane) - then at Kate. "Gibbs, what type of restaurants do you visit in Washington?"

"Restaurants?" Gibbs replied.

"Yes. There must be an amazing variety of restaurants in Washington with such international flavor-"

Jane stifled a laugh; Maura elbowed her in her side, lightly, but enough to get a reaction.

"_Ow_!" she said to Maura. "What was _that_ for?"

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli!" Angela loudly exclaimed, even as Tommy and Frankie tried to supress their own chuckles.

"Want me to head-slap them, Angela?" Gibbs said; Kate thought he might not be joking.

"_Ma_! _Gibbs_!" Jane said; Tommy went wide-eyed, and Frankie shook his head vigoriously.

Kate mouthed 'you're not actually going to do that?'

Gibbs chuckled, then told Angela about some of the five-star restaurants in the area he had taken dates on in the past.

"More often than not, I've kept it pretty simple," Gibbs continued. "Job itself keeps me too busy most of the time to dine out."

"We work a lot of nights and so we order carry-out," Kate explained. "Sometimes pizza, most of the time Chinese."

"When I'm not at work, I'm at home, eating from that shopping list Kate set up for me, and some easy-to-make foods," Gibbs said.

"Cowboy steaks," Jane interjected. "Take a rib-eye. Put it in the fireplace, wait till it's done, then eat."

"Extremely unsanitary," Maura added; Kate knew that Jane and Maura - and Kate herself - could gently rib the ex-Marine in ways almost no one else could.

"And delicious," Jane followed. "And necessary. You and Kate cooked that tofu stuff on the oven. Maura wouldn't even let me cook a hamburger on the skillet-"

"That isn't true," Maura protested. "I did allow you to cook a hamburger on the stove..._once_ in a while."

"_Most_ _of_ the while," Jane shot back, playfully. "_Most_ of the while you two ate seaweed and carrots. Gibbs asked me one night if I wanted a steak - I saw him sitting next to the fireplace, holding a hunk of meat in it. He gave me a stick, stuck another hunk of meat on it, told me to put it in there and let it sit. We did that a lot."

"It _did_ solve the problem of fixing dinner," Kate added, "especially when the FBI was leery of letting us order pizza."

That comment brought to mind the worse part of Jane and Maura's near-year-long exile in Washington, and nearly everyone's countenance went from laughter to sadness.

"Won't have to worry about the bastard anymore," Gibbs said, quietly - referencing the terrorist, Ari Haswari, who made that exile necessary and affected hundreds of lives in the process.

Moments later, Angela decided to change the topic.

"Don't _let_ your dinner get _cold_!" she chided everyone else. "Gibbs, Kate. You know more about detectives Frost and Korsak and Lt. Cavanaugh than we do about your _NCIS_ team. I'd _like_ to hear about _them_..."

As everyone finished dinner and dessert, Gibbs and Kate - and Jane and Maura - filled in Angela, Tommy and Frankie in about the men and women working down in Washington.

**Washington**  
><strong>Navy Yard<strong>

Agent Balboa was assigned by Director Jenny Shepard to pick up the NCIS team at Reagan Airport and take them to the Navy Yard. Based on his phone conversation with the director after disembarking, Tony expected a quick debrief before everyone went home for the night.

The foursome - and Balboa - ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant between Reagan and NCIS headquarters; Balboa dropped them off at the Navy Yard, heading home himself. Tony, Ziva, McGee and Ducky entered the building - heading home himself - and Tony, Ziva, McGee and Ducky headed up the elevator, in a jovial mood.

It evaporated when they saw Jenny and Abby standing in the bullpen, both downcast.

"Director?" Tony said.

"Director, has something happened?" Ducky asked. "Are Jethro and Caitlin all right?"

"We lost one of our agents today," Jenny stated. "Special Operations in Los Angeles. Dominic Vail."

Dominic "Dom" Vail's picture was on both screens in the bullpen.

"Julie was _hurt_ trying to save Dom," Abby said.

"Kate's sister," Ziva stated.

"How badly?" said McGee.

"Juliana is receiving emergency care," Jenny answered. "Agent Vail was killed in the line, saving the life of Agent Sam Hanna. That's all we know so far. Henrietta Lange informed me just a few minutes ago."

"Anything to do with Boston?" Tony asked.

"Fully separate," Jenny said. "I'll contact Agent Gibbs, and Agent Todd, then we'll debrief about the Venus de Milo case."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**  
><strong>Los Angeles<strong>  
><strong>University of Los Angeles Medical Center<strong>

"Kate, I'm _fine_!" yelled the young woman into her phone, from her heavily guarded hospital room.

Special Agent Julie Todd was trying to figure out a way to sneak out of the room - via the window, the ceiling, or splitting through the Marines in the doorway - and make her escape. To do that, she had to cut loose her IV and a dozen wires; get past special agent Kensi Blye and LAPD liaison Marty Deeks; and get off the danged phone with her overworried twin sister.

"It's a flesh wound, Katie!" Julie said. "Just on my arm-_OWWWWW_!" Julie twisted her hips the wrong way, and she felt the wound from the bullet that grazed her hip, then cussed up a storm.

"You're _cursing_ again," Kate said, from her guest room in Boston, as her hosts and her boss sat with her. "You need to stay in that room until they release you."

Kensi and Deeks, the Marines and anyone near the door heard both sides of the conversation on the speakerphone.

"I'm _fine_," Julie protested, as much to her two team members from the Office of Special Projects L.A. office as her sister on the phone. "I need to be out there, with Callen and Sam."

"You need to stay and recover so you can _help_ us," Kensi shot back, with an edge unlike anything Julie had seen from the junior agent. "We already lost one agent. I'm not losing another...now SIT."

"I'm _senior_ over you," Julie snapped in return, and the two women glared at one another.

"Uh...Julie's twin? You have any idea about how to stop a catfight?" Deeks blurted.

"There won't be any _catfight_, Mr. Deeks," said the diminuitive operations manager of the L.A. team, Henrietta Lange, who had just walked into the room. "Nor will there be a _glare_-off - and, Ms. Todd, _you_ will stay here and recover until you are fully ready."

"Hetty!" Julie said, surprised at her unexpected appearance. "I thought-"

"That I was in my office? Or that you would get past an agent, a detective and two Marines in your condition?" Hetty replied. "I - we - need you here, recovering. _Especially_ since we lost Dom this afternoon. While your injuries are not bad they are not insignificant, and you need to recover. Which you will."

Julie slumped in her bed, dejected.

"When you get outta here - _when_ - we're going to find his killers," Kensi said, reassuring her.

"You _better_ stay, Julie," said the voice of Kate Todd from the speakerphone. "Or I'll fly out there and shoot you myself."

"Can't do that, Kate. We've got a case." The voice of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who once nearly hired Julie after firing Kate's predecessor.

"I'll fly shuteye," Kate quipped. "Shoot her in the _ass_. Then catch a flight back here."

"Then I would have to arrest you, Ms. Caitlin...or keep you _here_," Hetty said.

"Was that a joke?" Kensi asked, before catching Hetty's glare. "-never mind."

"Jethro, thank you for your condolescences," Hetty continued. "It is always difficult to lose a member of your team or a fellow agent, something you sadly know all too well with Christopher."

"We got justice for Pacci, Hetty," Jethro said. "You'll do the same for Vail."

"We will be pursuing Dominic's killers as we pursue a potential lead on your present case," Hetty told him, to everyone's surprise. "We may have found a person of interest for you and Boston police to follow up with."

**Boston**  
><strong>Maura Isles' home<strong>

"I can only imagine what that team is like," Jane said to Maura, outside Kate's guest room. "Undercover Navy cops, travel the world, find the bad guys and bring them in."

"I'd like to travel the world," Maura gushed, "and we could be undercover. You'd be Jane Bond, and I'd be your companion, your damsel in distress that you save from the big, bad nasty brutish Russian spy."

"That sounds like a TV show," Jane said. "No. We'd be undercover in Paris, chilling out. You'd be Dr. Snob, I'd be Dr. Poindexter, we'd visit the _Louvre_ and climb the Eiffel Tower-"

"Doesn't quite work that way, Rizzoli," Gibbs said, stepping out of the room while Kate wrapped up her phone call.

"Then how _does_ it work, Gibbs? James Bond? Long stakeouts? Shootouts through the streets? Paperwork?"

"Yep," he answered, as Kate joined the conversation.

"Caitlin," Maura said to her. "The next time Jane and I come down to Washington, and visit with you and Abigail and Ziva, you should invite your sisters. I'd love to compare notes with Rachel on psychology, and your twin sister seems like an intriguing woman."

"She's a lot of things," Kate replied. "A little like me, a little like Rachel, a little like Danny, Roger and Chuck, a little like mom and dad, and a little like Tony."

"_Tony_?" Jane said. "You mean she's a great agent which almost makes up for her being very loud, constantly jabbers, always in your business, aggravating to no end? Maur. Maybe we should invite _Tony_ in _drag_ to our next little get-together."

Gibbs chuckled.

"_No_," Kate answered. "More like she liked to party and loved Spring Break...and _still_ does..."

"And she's alive," Maura said, placing a reassuring hand on Kate's arm.

"Get some rest, Kate," Gibbs said. "We have a killer of our own to hunt down."

"Thank you for coming, Gibbs," Maura said.

"I'll go with him to the door," Jane added. "You two can plan our next get together."

Downstairs, Jane was relieved her mother was nowhere around and probably in the guest house; Jane really wanted to touch base with Gibbs before he left for his motel room.

"You think this Venus de Milo killer's connected to the terrorists who killed your agent?" Jane said.

"Hetty said there was a guy arrested in Baltimore," Gibbs said. "Tony's gonna follow up on that. Hetty sent me an email. One of the terrorists who got killed while the L.A. team tried to rescue Vail. Guy worked with Ari."

"God," Jane swore. "Out _there_?"

"His Los Angeles cell," Gibbs said. "Guy was shot dead while Julie's team tried to find their teammate. Julie's partner did the honors; Deeks shot him after he shot Julie in the arm."

"Can't imagine losing someone when they were right under your nose for months," Jane said. "Your Los Angeles team must be torn up...I'm so sorry."

"Hope that's as far as the connection goes, Rizzoli," Gibbs replied. "I'm going to contact Kate and Julie's brother here in town, and Fornell in Washington, see what the FBI knows. Then I'll tell Cavanaugh, you and your team."

"Thanks," Jane said, opening the door for Gibbs. "Get some rest."

"Have to settle for sleep. My boat's back in Washington," he quipped.

**Boston, a few hours later**  
><strong>Jamaica Plain<strong>

A U-Haul pulled up to the freezer; the driver stepped out of the vehicle, opened the back door and pulled out a dolly.

He went inside. A minute later, he pushed a statue out the door, into the truck, then pulled out another dolly. A couple of minutes later, the driver pushed out another statue and put it in the truck. He locked the door to the freezer, then secured the statues, jumped in his truck and went on his way.

He made two stops enroute to his destination, making sure he had his laser pointer with him at both sites.

Joe Schmo arrived at his destination 30 minutes before sunrise, dropping off the U-Haul in the lot and its keys in the slot, then walked six blocks to a bus stop.

**Dawn**  
><strong>Fenway<strong>

Another Venus de Milo statue was spotted, next to a restaurant two blocks north of Fenway Park. When Detectives Hoyt and Framus arrived, they were forced to park next to the venerable baseball stadium, as television trucks and curious onlookers had the crime scene surrounded.

No one had yet noticed a similar statue at a children's amusement park - it didn't open until noon, and workers had yet to arrive for work - but it had been left on a carousel, 20 minutes after the other statue was dropped in between the restaurant and the adjacent upscale appliance store.

Once again, the Venus de Milo killer was on the loose.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Boston, Fenway Park**

Kate Todd parked behind a TV station van and hoped the Boston PD ID hanging from her rental's rearview mirror would keep her from getting a ticket.

She was much more concerned with getting to the crime scene on time - on Gibbs' schedule. Jane and Maura surely understood, having worked with the man for several months, how demanding he was of his agents.

Kate got out of her car and looked for where the commotion was. She only had to run two blocks to find the crime scene.

She ducked under the tape, set up 20 feet in each direction around the front of a bar and grill. The object of the crime scene - a Venus de Milo statue, bleeding from the left arm stump - was placed in front of the restaurant's sidewalk tables and life-sized posters of Ted Williams and Bobby Orr in its windows.

"Seen Gibbs?" Kate said, slightly out of breath after running to the scene.

"Sorry," replied Det. Woody Hoyt. "No sign of him-"

"Saw him as I walked here, Kate," said Jordan Cavanaugh, the state Assistant Medical Examiner. "He's over there talking to a witness."

"How long?" Kate sighed.

"Last minute, at least," Jordan said, apologetically.

"Thanks," Kate said, heading towards Gibbs and the witness.

Jordan and Hoyt exchanged a look.

"You hear the rumors?" Hoyt remarked.

"What rumors?" Jordan.

"Gibbs. Major league hardass."

"Oh," Jordan said, looking at the statue. "Maura and I talked about him. He's a good guy, Woody. And _definitely _a hardass...I thought you knew that?"

Hoyt shook his head. "No, but he looks the part. Hardass is the only rumor I buy into with them, not the other rumor going around the office."

"She and Gibbs together."

"Yeah," Hoyt said, seeing Kate join Gibbs in questioning the witness. "I don't buy them together at all."

Gibbs finished with the witness, a 36-year-old woman walking to work.

"How many people have you spoken with, Gibbs," Kate asked him. "Two? Ten?"

"Just one so far, Kate," Gibbs replied. "See who else may have seen that thing when it got here."

"There's probably a hundred people here, Gibbs," Kate complained; Gibbs pointed to his two o'clock, at a heavy-set, bearded man wearing a Red Sox jacket. "Start with him."

Kate rolled her eyes, heading towards Red Sox Guy as Gibbs headed to the statue.

"Detective. Doctor," he said to Hoyt and Jordan. "This statue the same as the others?"

"Identical," Jordan replied. "Only differences would be due to the individual in the statue - assuming there IS a body - height and measurements are identical to the other statues."

"Killer's looking for a body type," Gibbs commented. "Drip. From the stump. Looks fresh."

"Corpses don't bleed, Agent Gibbs," Jordan said. "Remember that we did find water dripping from the victims from the other statues."

"Red water," Hoyt added. "Blood-red water."

"Killer cut out a pocket in the cast below the stump," Gibbs said, looking at the statue. "Blood congeals pretty quickly after death. What they found dripping was water with red dye - just as you said, Detective."

"Symbolic?" Jordan asked. "Perhaps it's the killer's signature."

Gibbs took out his pocket knife to cut away a portion of the plaster, to verify there was a body underneath. While he carefully sliced into the plaster, he, Jordan and Hoyt heard a man in the background yelling.

_"VANILLA! VANILLA! VANILLA!" _

Hoyt was the first to understand what the man was shouting - and the first to recognize him.

"Crap," muttered Hoyt. "Rondo...what's _he_ doing here?"

"Rondo? Jane's C.I.?" Jordan commented, and Gibbs turned around.

'Rondo' - a.k.a. Raymond Washington, Det. Jane Rizzoli's criminal informant - made a beeline for Kate, who was talking with a bystander.

Woody took off at a sprint to intercept Rondo; Gibbs turned around, saw the commotion, and dropped his knife.

"Doc," he said to Jordan, heading towards Kate.

"I got it," Jordan said, mainly to herself, before picking up Gibbs' knife to finish cutting away the plaster.

Rondo got to Kate first, though by the time he got to her, he looked very confused.

"You're _not_ Vanilla," Rondo said to Kate, as Hoyt and Gibbs caught up to him.

"_Excuse _me?" Kate replied, indignantly, pulling out her weapon and pointing it at him. "Who _are _you?"

Gibbs held his palm out to stop her and calm her down.

"Rondo? What're you doing here?" Woody asked Rondo.

"You know him, Detective?" Kate said; then she recalled who the guy was - Jane spent one night discussing nothing but Rondo, his involvement in her cases, why he was her C.I.

"Let's back away from the crowd," Hoyt replied to Kate, before making eye contact with a uniformed officer. "Officer. Have these people back away another 20 feet. Media included."

"You're Jane Rizzoli's C.I., aren't you?" Gibbs asked Rondo.

"You know Vanilla?" Rondo asked.

"They _both _do," Hoyt said.

"Hey, Woody," Rondo replied. "Yeah, and I'm exclusive to Vanilla, though I can be called upon to help out her friends...waitaminute. You from D.C..."

"NCIS," Gibbs said, as he pulled out his badge and I.D., and Kate quickly followed his lead. "Agent Gibbs, and with me is Agent Todd."

"You _ARE_ the D.C. people," Rondo said. "Vanilla said you took _real_ good care of her and the Doc - the other Doc," glancing at Jordan, then at Kate. "And I'm sorry. I thought you might have been Vanilla-"

"Did you have something to tell Detective Rizzoli?" Kate asked Rondo.

"Yeah, Agent Todd, and Agent Gibbs," Rondo said. "Um...uh...I saw something...I'm trying to remember..."

Woody rolled his eyes, as Kate whispered in Gibbs' ear.

"Is he the informant Jane-"

"Yeah, Kate," Gibbs replied, as Rondo continued to stammer.

Finally, Woody had enough and pulled out a couple of twenty dollar bills; miraculously, Rondo's memory returned.

"You know, I did see something," he said, as Kate looked aghast. "Three hours ago. I was headed from the shelter on the other side of Fenway, to the Mission. They give free breakfast once a week - you gotta listen while they preach at you - and I saw a U-Haul pull up right there, where that statue is."

"How many people were there?" Gibbs.

"One, jumped out of the truck on the driver's side, opened the back, pulled it out on a dolly, dropped it off, put the dolly in the U-Haul, shut the door, jumped behind the wheel and took off," Rondo replied.

"What did he look like?" Kate.

"Uh...well...I'm kinda fuzzy on the details..." Rondo said; Kate looked at Gibbs.

To her surprise, instead of invoking some federal law or giving him one of his 'I'm gonna kill you if you don't stop b.s.-ing' looks, Gibbs pulled out another $20.

"I remember now," Rondo said. "Dressed in black, head to toe. I could tell he was a white guy, wearing a ski cap, sunglasses. And he pointed some kind of laser thing when he got out, before opening the U-Haul."

"Where?" Gibbs said, and Rondo pointed to the location of two security cameras attached to the restaurant, and one across the street over the front entrance of a bank.

"He's taking out cameras," Gibbs said. "Rondo. Would you give a description of this 'man in black' to Agent Todd? She's a sketch artist."

"Well..."

"Rondo. This bastard's not only killed prostitutes. He's killed Navy and Marine personnel. Women serving their country, going about their business," Gibbs said, appealing to Rondo's better angels. "Help us find this guy."

"Um..."

"Otherwise. Next thing I'm giving you, is a trip to the station. In handcuffs."

"Okay."

_That's the Gibbs I know,_ Kate thought, as she pulled her sketch pad and pencil from her backpack.

"Agent Gibbs," Hoyt said, as Gibbs walked a few steps, before stopping.

"Kate," Gibbs said. "Give Rondo another $20 for his trouble...your turn."

Rondo smiled at her. "You _do_ kind of look like Vanilla, from a distance. And up close, you're very beautiful," he said, sincerely, and pouring on the charm.

Kate was all business, especially after pulling a $20 out of her purse. "Let's start with body build," she said. "Slender? Stocky? Overweight?"

Hoyt looked over towards the statue, where Jordan was showing Gibbs an exposed portion of flesh on the body's right lower calf. He began to walk over to them, then decided to stay near Kate, in the remote event Rondo tried to pull something on her.

Then he texted Jane.

_NCIS AGENTS AT FENWAY; ANOTHER BODY FOUND._

Jane:

_I WAS AFRAID OF THAT. THINGS OK?_

Woody:

_FINE. RONDO'S HERE._

Moments later, Jane texted back:

_I WILL BE THERE IN TEN DO NOT MOVE DO NOT LET HIM GO_

"C'mon, Jane," Woody muttered to himself. "Rondo's not _THAT_ bad."

**Elsewhere in Boston**

The Venus de Milo Killer's other statue had just been discovered at the amusement park, and the park custodians were the first to see it, after noticing that the carousel was spinning.

Being that the Fenway statue was playing non-stop on one of the local news morning shows, the first call made from the park by one of the custodians was to the TV station.

That all but guaranteed the park would become a circus before police could arrive on the scene.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Boston**

Kate Todd had not grown up around cops, detectives nor federal agents. Her life experience in law enforcement amounted to her two-plus years at NCIS; however much she learned from Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Ziva, and Jane; and what Julie and her middle brother, Daniel, were able to show her in the too-short time they had to spend with one another.

More than once, Tony and Jane explained the idea of an informant to her and why cops used them. It nagged Kate that she had forgotten how much Jane told her about Rondo, and Tony's experiences with his own C.I.s before he joined NCIS.

Maybe it was because Kate had a lot of other things thrown at her, or because showing an NCIS badge or barging in and shouting 'FEDERAL AGENTS' got the desired results for Team Gibbs.

Kate had a far greater understanding of law enforcement now than she had when Gibbs hired her, and there were many things she might not have 'agreed with' before that she now did.

Paying informants money, with lives on the line, wasn't one of them, not yet. Despite all of the explanations and rationalizations from Jane and Tony coming back to her mind, Kate was still outraged over she, Gibbs and Woody giving Rondo money.

"You paid the guy for information?" Kate asked Gibbs, pointedly. "Is that even legal? And with those things" - Kate pointed to the Medical Examiner's Office van the statue was in - "popping up every day?"

"Agent Gibbs, may I?" Woody asked Gibbs; the older agent nodded.

"You ever work in civilian law enforcement, Agent Todd?" Woody asked Kate.

"No," she said, knowing where Woody was going. "NCIS. Before that, Secret Service." She needed the refresher.

"And I'm sure you learned quite a bit in both agencies," Woody replied. "Something you probably never had to deal with is working with a criminal informant-"

"I know what they are, Detective," Kate interjected. "Jane told me about that particular informant once. It took me a minute to remember him...giving him money just seems wrong, especially with a case like this."

"There are good reasons why LEOs often use C.I.s," Woody said, politely. "They give us information we often can't get otherwise. Sometimes, as part of the deal, you have to pay them money...you don't think that's...right?"

"Honestly?" Kate replied, and Woody nodded. "No. I don't. With a drug bust, sure. With a serial killer? That guy ought to give us information for free."

"I know we haven't had to resort to paid informants, Kate," Gibbs interjected. "Civilian LEOs, it's a necessity."

Gibbs made a mental note to sit Kate - and McGee, and Ziva - down and review practices of local law enforcement when he got back to D.C.

"Not all informants are criminals. We call Rondo a C.I., and he does have a record, but nowadays he keeps his nose clean," Woody said. "Rondo helps people, including homeless kids. He uses the money to survive; Jane and I've seen him give twenties to people he thought were more needy than he was."

"Rizzoli thought Rondo was a good guy at heart," Gibbs added.

"He's really more of an 'informant'," Woody continued. "He knows people throughout the shadier parts of Boston. Small-time thieves, gang members, drug dealers. Important players in the local crime families, even Paddy Doyle's organization."

"Thought Ari took the biggest part of it out and you cleaned up the rubble?" Gibbs asked.

"For the most part, though some stayed out of jail and are still loyal to the guy," Woody said. "Ever since last year, during the terrorist attacks...and when we hoped Jane and Maura would make it...Rondo's been looking out. For Jane, and for us. He's been a big help, Agent Todd. And he's a good guy. A few twenties each time - especially since he's homeless - won't hurt us."

"Thought he lived at a shelter?" Gibbs said, as he and Kate eyeballed two women, off in the distance, running towards the scene.

"He does...several," Woody said, hearing familiar voices in the background, and turning around to look for the source.

Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, bickering all the way, both stepped under the yellow tape cordoning off the crime scene; Jane frantically looked for someone, with Maura alongside her.

They saw Jordan, still with the statue as it was being put into the back of a Medical Examiner's Office van; Maura broke from Jane, heading towards Jordan and the statue, while Jane stood, looking around before seeing Gibbs, Kate and Woody, then ran to them.

"Where's Rondo?" Jane said to Woody.

"With a uniform, getting a cup of coffee," Woody replied, nodding to his left; Rondo leaned against the hood of a police car, drinking a cup and munching on a donut.

"How much did you pay him?" Jane said.

"Eighty," Woody said, "between the three of us."

"_Eighty_? He'll say that's not enough - waitaminute. You three _paid_ him" - Jane pointed to Kate and Gibbs - "did he see someone - do we have a suspect?"

"We got a sketch," Kate said, reaching into her backpack and pulling out her pad. "Rondo was very detailed."

Jane and the others looked at the sketch, a side portrait of a white male, athletic, wearing a skull cap and a black jacket.

"Great job, Kate," Jane said. "That's really good."

"I hope it's something to go on," Kate replied. "Rondo seemed to remember certain details. How his nose looked. Jaw structure. Even that the guy was clean shaven. And the cap was pulled over his eyes, enough that he didn't see the guy's eyebrows."

"I see this is your formal introduction to Rondo," Jane said to Kate.

"I filled her in," Woody said. "And gave her a brief intro to confidential informants 101."

"I must've forgotten what you told me about Rondo last year-and what Gibbs and Tony mentioned the past couple of years off and on," Kate said, smiling apologetically.

"You won't forget today...right, Agent Todd?" Gibbs said; Kate shook her head, vigorously.

Maura and Jordan joined the group, and Woody caught Rizzoli and Isles up on the crime scene and what Rondo told Kate about the suspect. Then Jordan verified the statue was identical to the others.

"Well, we've confirmed there's a body underneath, and it's headed to the morgue now," Jordan said. "Caucasian, roughly the same height and same weight as the other victims."

"Body temperature was 44 degrees, consistent with being left in cold storage anywhere from 12 to 36 hours," Maura added. "The red stain drip from the stump at first glance looks consistent with the red stains from the other victims."

"The other statues having small amounts of water mixed with carminic acid used to make chocineal dye. Red dye," Jordan added.

"Results from this particular statue, and victim, are pending a full autopsy, and findings from CSU's examination of the red stain," Maura followed.

"Oh, Dr. Isles?" Jane replied, jokingly. "What else might it be? Kool-Aid?"

"I would wait until testing verifies the ingredients," Maura replied, seriously. "However, I will tell CSU to search for a liquid which contains malic acid; malodextrin; citric acid; calcium phosphate; sugar; salt; acesulfame potassium; absorbic acid; a coloring agent such as red dye-"

"Maur." Jane said, then turned to the others. "Any security camera footage that could show the suspect?"

"There probably won't be any; that's the other thing Rondo gave us, besides a description of the suspect and his U-Haul," Kate said. "Rondo said the suspect pointed a laser at the buildings, where the cameras would be."

"Laser pointer would disable the cameras," Gibbs added. "August. We captured an AWOL Marine who robbed a bank in Quantico, used a laser pointer to take out all but one of the bank's security cameras."

"Great," Jane said, exasperated. "I hope there's one this masked guy overlooked. Woody, let's make sure CSU gets those cameras."

A member of Boston P.D.'s Crime Scene Unit division was in the area; Jane yelled at him to come over.

"Cameras were wiped clean," he told the group. "Last recorded time stamp is right before your informant says he saw the suspect. Then? Bright light, and nothing."

"Thanks, Jorge," Jane said. "Let us know if you find anything worth using from the cameras...the last recorded time on the footage. It's not uncommon for Rondo to be up real early in the morning, he'll usually head from one mission to get breakfast at another mission - the Baptists, four blocks down."

"So he would have been up, and in the area, since Fenway is in the route from where he sleeps to the Baptist mission," Woody added.

"Guy took out the cameras so no one could see him," Gibbs said. "Rizzoli. What if the suspect saw your C.I.?"

"What if..." Jane said. "Woody. We'll need to put Rondo into protective custody. I'll go over and talk with him" - Jane looked back, saw that Rondo was still with the officer - "and tell him what and why...and Gibbs, and Kate. We'll reimburse you your money."

The cell phones of both detectives and M.E.s rang simultaneously.

"Thanks," Jane said, hanging up. "Gibbs, Kate. They found another statue. Amusement park in town. Frost and Korsak are on their way. I'll get Maura."

"Day gets better and better," Woody said.

Kate began jogging back towards her car, hoping it hadn't been towed by now, and was surprised to see Gibbs jogging right alongside her.

"Your car over there, Gibbs?" Kate asked.

"Caught a ride with an officer," Gibbs said. "You drive."

"Yes you may, Gibbs. You're welcome, Gibbs," Kate said; she - and Abby and probably Ducky and Director Shepard - could get away with talking to him like that, and get a smirk from the silver-haired former Marine.

Both agents' minds were on the case, and only on the case, and nowhere close to what certain detectives might think of seeing them ride together based on scuttlebutt from the past few days.

Gibbs got a call on his phone as Kate drove to the amusement park.

It was from Tony, en route to a crime scene, with McGee driving and Ziva in the middle.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Boss?"

"DiNozzo."

"Metro PD found a Venus de Milo statue in a freezer near Rock Creek Park of all places a half-hour ago," Tony said. "Ducky and Palmer's gonna meet us there. Me, Ziva and McGee are headed there now."

"Every detail, DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered. "Call me first. Have McGee send the report to Kate's phone, and Boston Homicide. Also. Tell Abby Dr. Isles's office and Boston CSU will send photos and findings on two statues found today."

"Two?" Tony said, as McGee briefly glanced over and Ziva turned her head in surprise. "Two more?"

"Just left the scene from the first, headed to the second," Gibbs followed. "Call me when you get an I.D. on the victim. And tell Metro NOT to release this to the media."

Gibbs hung up.

"They found another one?" Kate said.

"Metro did," Gibbs said. "Tony, Ziva, McGee and Ducky are on their way...DiNozzo sounded calm."

"McGee must be driving the van," Kate said.

"Didn't hear him half-shouting - or any screeching and honking in the background," Gibbs said, and he and Kate both shared a laugh.

Soon, they got to the amusement park, saw the large crowd, and were both snapped back into the reality of the moment.

**The amusement park**

The park was worse of a scene than the bar and grill, with a larger crowd of civilians, along with every local TV and radio station that had a news team, and a ZNN truck.

"ZNN. _That's_ nice," Kate said, sarcastically.

Gibbs and Kate got to the scene - Kate following Gibbs, who was pushing past people and a few reporters - and stepped under the tape.

A carousel was still running, with another statue in place.

"Gibbs," said Lt. Cavanaugh, who had drove directly to the scene after getting the call. "Two in one day. This is a disaster. We've got to _find_ this bastard-"

"Three, Lieutenant."

"THREE?"

"Yeah...Metro D.C. police just found one, an hour ago, in the middle of a drug bust. My team's headed there now."

"We've _got_ to find this bastard," Cavanaugh yelled to his detectives and officers. "Frost. Jane. Somebody slow that thing down!"

After Frost jumped onto the quickly moving carousel and shut it off, he jumped off and looked at the two nearby security cameras.

"Get me the footage," he said to one of the park's security guards; a few minutes later, they, the other detectives, Cavanaugh, Gibbs and Kate looked at the footage - which ended with a red flash, followed by a white screen.

"Both completely taken out," Frost commented. "I doubt you'll get any more use out of either camera."

"Just like the ones near the Fenway statue," Jane added, then looked at the guard, showing her Kate's sketch pad with the drawing of the Fenway suspect. "You or anyone else see this guy? Or someone who looks like him?"

"Nope," the guard replied; she and her fellow guards only saw each other.

**Washington**

**Franco's Steak Place  
>two blocks from Rock Creek Park<strong>

Tony was ten paces ahead of the others, and entered the meat locker looking for the ranking detective on site.

Detective Cooper was looking at the statue, along with Ducky and Palmer.

"Didn't expect to see you here this soon, Duck," Tony said, as he eyeballed a patch of cloth on the statue's thing.

"I ate here a month ago," Jimmy said, grinning. "Came by two weeks ago for the prime rib, excellent by the way, and saw it was closed and shuttered-"

"Mister Palmer's usual propensity to get lost obviously did not come into play this morning," interrupted Ducky, as he bent down to examine the cloth on the statue. "Hmm."

"Hmm?" Tony said. "What do you mean by '_hmm_'?"

"Most peculiar," Ducky mused, looking over the leg, before feeling around the edges.

"Dr. Mallard," said Jimmy, peering over Ducky's shoulder. "Is that cloth cut into the plaster?"

"The 'cloth', Mr. Palmer, is inside the cloth," Ducky replied, "except for this particular portion."

McGee and Ziva joined the trio, and began looking over the statue themselves, with Ziva looking it up and down closely, head to toe.

So was Tony.

"Something's off about this one," he said.

"It is not as smooth as the others," Ziva added. "A bit rougher...as if the victim-"

"-was fully dressed," Ducky replied.

The NCIS team looked over the statue, without speaking, until Palmer broke the silence: "Uh, guys, what are we looking for, exactly?"

"She's dressed in her uniform," McGee said. "The cloth sticking out; that's her pant leg."

All of the previous victims around the country were either nude or stripped to their underwear.

"Nice observation, Probie," Tony said, without any of the usual sarcasm that came when he spoke to McGee. "Look at her feet."

"It appears she is wearing shoes," Ziva added. "And look at the stumps on the arms."

"Right at the sleeve, if I remember my Naval uniforms correctly," Ducky said. "We need to get this woman back to the morgue promptly for confirmation, but I believe it is fair to say she - unlike the other victims - is fully dressed."

The team finished processing the scene - including the drip from the stump on the right arm - and found dolly tracks leading outside. The remainder of the restaurant was abandoned, with only two chairs and a menu sighted.

"Even the food preparation equipment has been removed," Ziva said, as Tony scrunched his eyebrows, then took another look around.

"When we get back, Ziva, find out who owned this place; McGee, why it shut down," Tony said. "I'll call Gibbs and Kate."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Boston**  
><strong>Boston P.D., Division One, Homicide squadroom<strong>  
><strong>and<strong>  
><strong>Washington<strong>  
><strong>Navy Yard, NCIS Headquarters<strong>

"Got you on speaker phone with your team in Washington, Agent Gibbs," Frost said to Gibbs, who stood to the side of Frost's desk; Kate stood next to Gibbs, with Jane, Korsak and Woody completing the circle.

"_DiNozzo_," Gibbs barked.

Back in Washington, Tony went right into a debrief of the crime scene and victim, while McGee put her photo up on both of the team's monitors and Ziva held a laptop for Tony. Ducky and Palmer were in the middle of cutting away the plaster, while Abby was running fingerprints.

"You got any more, DiNozzo?" Gibbs said.

"We'll have to call you-" Tony began...

..."TONY TONY TONY TONY TONY!" finished a very enthusiastic Abby, yelling so loud that everyone on the other line in Boston - and anyone on the third floor at NCIS - clearly heard her.

"Gibbs and Kate are on the line," McGee said to her. "And Boston."

"Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs! Kate Kate Kate! Boston Boston Boston!" Abby happily shouted into the speakerphone in front of the big monitor. "Are Jane and Maura there? Hi Jane! Hi Maura!"

"Jane says hi, Abby," Jane replied, a little awkwardly.

"Dr. Isles is downstairs working on one of the latest victims," Kate added as she looked at the three male detectives with them, looking confused at the...voice...on the other end.

"Abby Sciuto," Jane interjected, like she was reading Kate's mind. "NCIS's forensics analyst."

"Abs, what'cha got?" Gibbs said, steering the meeting back on topic.

"It took me a little longer than expected to I.D. her," Abby said, as Ducky stepped off the rear elevator and headed towards the NCIS team's bullpen. "Her fingerprints were worn down. Someone - assuming the killer - tried to make identifying her by fingerprint difficult, and they did it by sanding her finger and thumb prints."

"Sanding?" Korsak said. "Your victim's fingers were sandpapered?"

Abby - after explaining that she was giving them the short version - said the vic's fingerprints were sanded down, haphazardly, and dipped in some sort of acidic solution.

"Whomever did this to her, did it either right before or right after she died," Abby said. "And, they did it like they were in a hurry."

"A hurry to kill the next victim?" Jane said.

"Maybe," Gibbs said. "You get anything off the prints, Abs?"

"Yes!" Abby said, enthusiastically. "That's the thing. The killer was in such a hurry he didn't complete the job. So...I was able to get a print off her right index finger, and...ta-da!...McGee...McGee?"

After a moment of confusion, McGee figured the information had been emailed to his computer; a few moments later - and with Tony and Ziva nodding and gesturing at him to hurry up - McGee called up a photo of the victim's identification badge.

"Caitlin Holt, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Judge Advocate Corps," McGee read off the photo, before looking at another file. "Stationed out of JAG's Falls Church office. Recently assigned there, a month ago...she's a lawyer."

"There's today's military connection," Woody said; Gibbs unexpectedly looked up and glared at him, then said "it's no joke, Detective."

"Sir? Never said it-" Woody began in response, before stopping after Jane and Korsak shook their heads 'no'.

"Jethro, Anthony, detectives," Ducky said, hoping to prevent the Boston detective on the other line from derailing the conversation. "Mr. Palmer and I managed to cut away the plaster, and surprisingly, only a small portion of it stuck to her summer dress uniform."

"She was dressed in her summer uniform, not her formal dress uniform," Tony added.

"The fabric would be lighter, and perhaps more conducive to being encased in a plaster tomb," Ducky replied. "I found her identification badge wrapped in saran wrap, placed in her brassiere. However, when I removed the wrapping it was barely legible."

"Her name's Caitlin," Frost stated, and Kate winced.

"Hell of a coincidence," said Korsak, who spotted Gibbs' stone-faced reaction.

There are no coincidences in Gibbs' worldview.

"You found the body in a freezer?" Gibbs asked, and Tony, McGee and Ziva explained where they found Holt and the background behind the site:

* Franco's Steak House, once an up-and-coming four-star restaurant, abruptly shut down two weeks ago  
>* The owner fell into massive debt, and decided to open his restaurant as a front for drug dealers, using the money to pay off the debt<br>* After the restaurant shut down, Franco disappeared; he's wanted by both the FBI and the DEA  
>* According to the DEA, Franco also leased out his business to unsavory characters. DEA agents staking out the establishment reported seeing people going in and out the back entrance after the restaurant closed - with the electric bill paid in full for the month<p>

Tony saw another report among the stack of files left by the DEA agent on his desk; thumbing through it, he saw something that was probably important.

"Uh, boss...DEA agent's report says they saw something being dollied in...time would be four days ago...3 a.m.," Tony said, and he could almost feel the impending head slap from his boss.

Kate and the Boston detectives saw Gibbs' annoyed reaction.

"Could have said that a little _earlier_, DiNozzo," he said, bluntly.

"Sorry boss," Tony blurted. "Got lost amidst the dozens of folders-"

"DiNozzo."

"Yes boss," Tony continued. "Ducky said the time of death was probably four or five days-"

"I put the time of death for the lieutenant initially at 72 to 96 hours," Ducky interjected, as much for Tony's sake as providing vital information. "After Mr. Palmer and I removed her from her plaster tomb and conducted a proper examination, I revised the time to 96 hours. She's been there four days, give or take a few hours."

Tony then said Agent Balboa was assigned to follow up on the missing lieutenant; given that his team caught another case involving a drug dealer - and her status as one of the Venus de Milo Killer's latest victims - Director Shepard reassigned the case to Gibbs's team.

Gibbs, of course, already knew that, having spoken with Jenny right before the conference call.

"Call Fornell if FBI or DEA give you any trouble, and contact me or Kate when you hear something and when anything else comes up," Gibbs said.

**Boston**  
><strong>Morgue<strong>

Maura and her assistant, Susie Chang, were about to conclude their examination of the victim from the carousel, while Jordan and her assistant finished their exam on the Fenway victim.

"Got anything for us?" Jane said, as Gibbs and Kate followed her into the morgue.

Both were prostitutes, and both had cigarette burns on their bodies, Jordan said.

"The victim from the carousel had something the other vic didn't," Jordan said.

"Which was?" Kate.

"She has given birth, recently," Maura replied. "And she had heroin in her system."

"Jesus," Jane responded. "She had a baby?...we have to ID her...I'll take Frost and show her picture around, see what we can find-"

"Be a good idea to take your informant along," Gibbs added. "Long enough to help with the locals. They'd probably respond better to him than to us."

"Us?" Jane said, then realized what the agent had in mind. "Oh. You're going with us too. How could I forget?", Jane said sarcastically.

"And Kate," Gibbs said with a smirk.

**Elsewhere in Boston**

The two detectives and two agents - and Rondo - rode into the part of Boston notorious for its hookers; the five got out of Frost's car, and began showing the carousel and Fenway victims' pictures around.

Several car-lengths away, a white male, wearing a Bruins cap and jacket and glasses, sat in a beat-up Impala, observing the twosome on one side and threesome on the other side of the street. So far, no one was walking in his direction.

Gibbs and Kate confirmed the Fenway victim was a regular, and some of the prostitutes offered up a regular named "Bear" as a potential perp. Gibbs asked a hooker if Bear drove any of the cars up and down the street; she shook her head.

"Hey my man Gibbs!" Rondo said, as Gibbs and Kate crossed the street to where Rondo, Jane, Frost and a couple of hookers stood.

One of the hookers - a transvestite who went by Chrissy and Rainbow - referenced Bear. The other one - Kitty - said Bear usually drove a blue pickup truck, with tools strewn around the cab.

Gibbs surreptitously looked at the various vehicles up and down the street, including the Impala.

"He drive anything else? Anything you might have seen recently, or see tonight?" Gibbs asked Chrissy and Kitty, who shook their heads.

The agents and detectives and Rondo made their way back to Frost's car, and Gibbs looked back towards the Impala, hoping to get a clearer view of the driver.

The car was empty.

"Frost," Gibbs said. "Slow down near that white car, 50 feet ahead." Frost did as Gibbs instructed, and stopped.

"No one's there," Jane said, and the four agents asked two hookers standing nearby if they had seen the driver. No, they hadn't.

"No one's seen anything, other than this Bear character," Kate said. "Gibbs. You think there's something to this car?"

Gibbs said nothing, giving Kate an 'of course I do' look.

"No luck running the plates," Frost said, looking at the bumper. "He doesn't have any."

"And looks like the VIN was scratched off," Jane added, shining a flashlight on the front window. Then she looked at Gibbs.

"Frost, let's have this car taken back to the station and run it for prints," Jane said.

"Good idea, detective," Frost replied. "Or did you read Agent Gibbs' mind?"

Jane smacked her partner on his arm, and Gibbs smiled, while scanning the neighborhood for the man with the Bruins cap and glasses.

He was long gone, running down an alley towards another beater. He ditched his clothes eight blocks away at a gas station, then headed back to his apartment.

**Maura Isles' home**

"Eat up," Angela Rizzoli said to Jane, Kate and Gibbs as the trio entered Maura's living room. "I spent all evening making a good, healthy meal for you."

"Better not be kale," Jane said, earning herself a glare from her mother.

"Well, kate does have many healthy and nutritious benefits, and can be prepared with a variety of tasty methods," Maura added. "But we have pizza."

Gibbs and Kate thanked Angela and Maura for the dinner, which included salad with four different dressings and baked Italian bread. "Thanks, Ma," Jane added, giving her Ma a hug before heading towards the supreme pizza.

"You put a lot of effort into this dinner, Angela," commented Kate, content with salad and a slice of vegetarian pizza.

"It was either that, or knit, and I knew you three would be hungry," Angela said.

The door bell rang, unexpectedly to all but Angela. "I've ordered some yarn from Amazon dot com," she explained.

"You ordered more yarn? For Lydia's kid?" Jane said.

"For myself. It helps me cope with the stress," Angela replied, as the doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it," Gibbs said, and made his way to the door to open it.

It wasn't a FedEx driver with the delivery of yarn.

It was Dennis Rockmond, holding an orchid.

"Hello," he said. "Is Dr. Isles in?"

Gibbs' gut instantly went into overdrive.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Gibbs' gut went into overdrive upon seeing Dennis Rockmond.

He knew who Rockmond was, or claimed to be.

A month before, back in Washington, Gibbs 'discovered' the up-and-coming motivational speaker and author.

Gibbs and Kate returned to the squadroom at the NCIS building, from interviewing a Navy Lieutenant's wife; they saw Tony DiNozzo standing in front of Tim McGee's desk. DiNozzo spotted Rockmond's book on McGee's desk and kidded the younger agent, as he usually did.

"'Releasing your inner winner' Probie?" DiNozzo said, leafing through the book, to McGee's annoyance. "Something I should know? Feeling bad about yourself?"

"I feel just fine," McGee said, snatching the book away from Tony, as Ziva David - who sat across from McGee - watched on with interest.

"So why are you looking for your 'inner winner'?" Tony asked McGee. "Not feeling like a McLoser, are you?"

"Tony, that's not it at all-"

"Ah ha!" Tony said, triumphantly, snatching the book back from McGee and leafing through it. "That is it, McMisdirection. As your senior field agent, Probie, it's my responsibility to make sure you're not being unduly influenced by Tony Robbins knockoffs-"

"It's a _New York Times_ bestseller, DiNozzo," McGee retorted, snatching the book back from Tony's hands as Kate stepped towards them. "He's a rising motivational speaker. Even he has something to say that's valuable-"

"Hear _that_, Kate?" Tony said over his shoulder. "Probie thinks Tony Robbins Lite has something 'valuable' to say."

"Do you defer to Tony Robbins, Tony?" Ziva interjected, looking at DiNozzo coyly. "Do you reject this man in favor of Tony Robbins? Are you yourself a disciple of Tony Robbins?"

"They're _both_ named Tony," Kate added. "Maybe Tony DiNozzo thinks Tony Robbins is the wisest man on earth, and wants McGee to follow _his_ guru."

Ziva chuckled. So did Kate.

"Hey!" Tony said, annoyed at both women. "Tony Robbins isn't my guru!...as I was saying, Probie is my probie-"

McGee rolled his eyes. Again.

"-and I don't want him to be led astray by some slick talking jackass." Tony flipped through the book and picked a random paragraph. "For example, page 82:

_'Visualize yourself taking on the world, a world that can be very harsh and cold, that can turn on you on a dime. You are a champion, a warrior, a dominator, not a submitter'_

"Shouldn't that be 'not be submissive'?" Kate.

"Guy apparently can't write," Tony continued. "...'_not a submitter. See yourself overpowering your opposition and plowing through all obstacles. Tell yourself this, several times a day. Look in the mirror_'-whoa, HO HO-'_and repeat 'I am a champion. I am a winner. I am a victor. I am not a loser. I will not be defeated_'-come ON, Probie, you're telling me you're chanting this crap in the bathroom every morning before you come in to work?"

Tony looked at McGee with glee, as if he had something else to torment his 'Probie' with.

"No I don't," McGee shot back, "but maybe it would do _you_ some good."

"Whoa-hoah-hoah," Tony continued. "I don't _think_ so, Probie. But if it _humors_ you, McInnerWinner, I'll play along. Now...page 83: '_You must believe this with all your heart, and make yourself believe, even when you don't. If necessary, shout it to yourself dozens of times._"

"Are you going to _shout_, Tony?" Ziva asked, in a mock, meek manner. Kate, standing to his right, looked on, in a mock pleading way.

"Why not?" Tony said. "I'll try it Probie's Guru's way." Tony held out the book and shouted "I AM A WINNER! I AM A VICTOR! I AM A CHAMP-"

**SLAP**!

Tony shut up when Gibbs, stepping from behind his desk, administered his second headslap of the day.

"You _through_, DiNozzo," said the special agent in charge.

"_Yes_ boss," Tony replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"Then set your 'inner winner' down in your own seat and get back to work. That goes for all of you," Gibbs said, as Tony scurried back to his desk. Kate and Ziva walked back to their desks, chuckling, and McGee smiled as he pulled up financials on the Navy lieutenant he and Ziva were investigating.

Gibbs then walked over to his desk, pulled a book out of his top drawer, and dropped it on McGee's desk while taking Rockmond's book for himself.

"Wanna learn something, McGee?" pointing to the book - _The Call of the Wild_, by Jack London - "read this. You'll learn something valuable."

"Boss?..._right_ Boss," McGee replied, figuring he wasn't going to get the Rockmond book anytime soon.

Gibbs took the Rockmond book home that night, read through and saw the same things in it he did in the Tony Robbins books he confiscated from DiNozzo.

Some of it was good, none of it anything he hadn't heard before.

A month later, he hadn't expected to see the author show up on Dr. Isles' doorstep, and he didn't expect his own gut would scream that Rockmond was bad news.

Gibbs always listened to his gut, even when logic contradicted it.

"Sir? May I come in?" Rockmond repeated himself, this time a bit insistent.

Maura rushed over and invited Dennis in, as Kate glared at Gibbs for appearing to be rude. Gibbs' look suggested she be wary of their unexpected - and apparently uninvited - guest.

Jane looked wary as well, Kate thought, pondering the connection between she, Maura and Rockmond. _Wonder what their history is?_

Rockmond handed Kate the orchid. "Thank you for seeing me, and rather unexpectedly," he began, looking around - and taking a few extra moments to look at Gibbs and Kate - before turning his full attention to Maura, as Jane rushed to her side.

"I know it's late, but I couldn't sleep," he says. "I need to tell you and your...partner something."

Maura, polite, nodded; Jane looked exasperated and distrustful. Gibbs stood between Kate and Angela, saying nothing, looking as if he was ready to kick Rockmond's ass out the door if he tried anything crazy.

Kate went into profiler mode and looked on, reaching to hide her sketch pad in her purse.

Rockmond appeared polite, fully focused on Maura, and totally ignorant of Gibbs' and Jane's reactions. Then he looked up again, as if on cue, and spotted Angela.

"Oh hello," he said, looking right at her.

"Hi," Angela said, unsure as to what was going down.

She reached for her yarn and began knitting, her own intuition telling her not to leave her daughters alone with this man, even with the two NCIS agents present.

Dennis turned his attention back to Maura, but this time acknowledging Jane.

"Dr. Isles," he said, switching to charming mode. "I know from the moment you saved me on that table, and literally brought me back to life, all I wanted to do was thank you."

"You _did_ thank me, and I'm a doctor, so you don't owe me anything," Maura replied in a matter-of-fact manner, while holding the orchid.

"That's right, Rockhead," Jane added, with a thin smile and a very glaring look. "You don't owe her _anything_."

"I know," Dennis says. "My parents...They have the perfect marriage. 30 years and they're still in love. They're soulmates. Like you two."

"Why are you telling us this-" Maura replied, nervously. Gibbs moved a little closer after blinking twice to Kate, who reached into her bag, felt for her service weapon, and pulled out lip balm.

"Why _ARE_ you telling us this, Mr. Rockmond?" Jane added, quickly.

"Dr. Isles, I was so knocked over by you," Mr. Charming continued, eyes fully on Maura, as Jane inched into his personal space while keeping her left hand next to her weapon and right on Maura's shoulder.

"I got on a plane, I buried myself in work, I tried to think about...something else. Other than you...and meeting you and you, Ms. Rizzoli," Rockmond continued, briefly making eye contact with Jane, "in the cafe, confirmed to me that I fell for someone who I couldn't have, who didn't belong to me."

"Damn right," Jane muttered.

"Jane," Maura interjected.

"Anyway," Rockmond added, now looking back and forth between Jane and Maura. "I wanted to apologize to you both for my behavior at the cafe, and that I was inappropriate. I was hoping that my apology would help make amends for that, and that we could be friends. Perhaps one evening, you two can be my guests, for dinner and a show."

Jane merely glared at Rockmond.

"That's very kind of you to say," Maura replied after a moment.

"But we'll have to pass. It's getting late." Jane interjected, expecting to have the final say on the matter.

Rockmond looks at the spread on the countertop and back at Jane, with a 'I know you're lying' look - and then noticed Gibbs and Kate glaring at him.

Just for a moment, Mark Dugan, and the anger he carried at the foursome since last spring, threatened to manifest himself through Rockmond's plastic smiling demeanor.

Just for a moment. Then Dennis Rockmond and his Inner Winner reasserted control.

It didn't go unnoticed by Gibbs.

"Well, I see it is late...and that I need to get going," Rockmond said. "Please contact me if you change your mind" - he reached for his wallet, and handed Maura his business card - "and I hope we can meet again under friendlier circumstances."

Rockmond turned, made his way out the front door, and Gibbs followed him every step of the way, looking outside until he was satisified the motivational speaker had driven out of the neighborhood.

Then he shut the door, and turned towards Maura.

"You have a ziploc bag, Maura?" Gibbs asked.

"Ziploc?...Yes, I believe I do. It's-"

"Where I keep the instant coffee," Jane interjected, walking swiftly to the cupboard and pulling out a box.

Gibbs asked Maura to put the card in one of the bags, which she did.

"Rizzoli," he then said to Jane. "Stay here with Maura and your mother. Kate. Get your gloves, follow me."

"Gibbs, what in the world are you doing?" Jane asked, as he and Kate ran out the door, towards the street.

"Jane?" Angela said, finally speaking up. "What is going on? What is Gibbs doing?"

"I don't know," Jane said, reaching for her own gloves, putting them on. "Maura. Take the extra revolver, cupboard above the microwave, middle drawer. Call my cell so you can stay in contact with me while I'm outside - and call Frankie, tell him to get over here. I'm going outside to see what the hell's going on."

"Maura? Jane?" Angela called out, as her daughter ran out the open door. Maura got the gun, and called Jane, who picked up.

"Angela," Maura said. "Call Frankie. Tell him to get here now." Angela did so, as Maura checked her weapon, just as Gibbs and Jane taught her.

Jane ran outside, and saw Gibbs and Kate searching Rockmond's parking space. A crime scene without a crime.

"Now that you've got my partner and my mother spooked, can you tell me what the hell you two are doing out here?" Jane whispered to Gibbs.

"Tire marks," Kate said, as Gibbs shined the flashlight on the road and she took a picture from the camera in her bag.

Gibbs spotted something in the corner of his eye; he took his flashlight, shined it on the road, and saw blood where the driver's front door would have been.

"Q-tip," Gibbs said, and Kate gave it to him. He swabbed the blood, and put in a vial.

"What _are_ you two looking for?" Jane whispered, as she saw someone approaching them from her one o'clock.

"Great," Jane muttered. "Mr. Garrett. Nosy Mr. Garrett."

A slight, balding, bestacled 60-something man approached them, wearing a Red Sox satin jacket and cap. "I know you're a cop," he said to Jane.

"Why yes, last time I checked, I was a cop," Jane said, sarcastically. "Can we help you, Mr. Garrett?"

"I saw him," Mr. Garrett said.

"Saw who?" Gibbs replied, looking up at the neighbor.

"I saw the guy," Mr. Garrett continued. "A little while ago. I saw him. He was mad. Hit his door, cursed. Thought he didn't see anyone, but I was outside."

Garrett usually was outside this late at night, pacing the street, looking for 'criminal elements' which almost never posed a threat to Maura's neighborhood. Boston Police uniformed officers driving down the street usually waved to the self-professed 'neighborhood watch captain'; Jane herself, after moving in with Maura, told Garrett to watch the street and leave the serious threats to her and the cops.

And, the guy loved to gossip - not that many people on the street cared. Most, like Maura and Jane, minded their own business.

This time, though, Jane couldn't dismiss him.

Garrett described Rockmond down to his shoes. He said after Rockmond left the porch, he walked down the stairs, then ran out to his car, then punched the door and apparently cracked the window, uttering a few profanities while reaching down for several moments, before driving off.

"Reaching down to do what?" Kate asked.

"Looked like he was sweeping," Garrett replied. "Maybe sweeping the glass. With his hands, I think."

"That would explain the blood," Kate said, shining her flashlight around where Gibbs saw the drop of blood. "I see glass."

There in fact was glass - very little of it, but enough for a sample - and Kate put the tiny shards into another Ziploc bag.

"Keep this strictly to yourself," Gibbs said to Garrett, pulling out his NCIS badge and ID. "Do NOT share this with anyone. Not even _yourself_ - and give me your phone number, so I can call you if I need to."

Garrett obliged - writing it on the back of his business card - then hurried back to his house.

"Good luck with 'keep it to yourself'," Jane said. "Guy's been nothing but a gossip queen since I moved in with Maura."

Gibbs and Kate finished their work.

"Lot of work for a creep, Gibbs," Kate said to him, as Frankie pulled in to a parking spot eight houses down, then ran out of his car towards Maura's house.

"Maura," Jane said, talking into her cell. "Everything alright?" Maura, standing guard in the kitchen with Angela, said it was.

"Jane?" Frankie said, running towards her. "Gibbs? Kate?"

"Go to the kitchen, with Maura and Ma," Jane abruptly said. "I'll explain there, in a minute...or whenever we're done."

Jane saw Kate put the bags into the trunk of Gibbs' rental car, then turned to Gibbs.

"What _is_ all this about?" she said. "Look, I realize the guy's a creep, and if Mr. Nosy Neighbor is to be believed-"

"Garrett prone to lying? Making up stuff?" Gibbs.

"No." Jane said. "He's prone to not minding his own business. But he doesn't exaggerate. What he says is on the money."

"Then I don't trust Rockmond, and neither should you, nor Maura nor anyone else," Gibbs said. "Meet me inside."

After they got back in the house, Gibbs got to his point.

"Don't trust him," he said of Rockmond. "Watch yourselves, do _not_ be alone with him. Especially you, Maura."

Maura instinctively reached for Jane, who in turn embraced her, stroking her hair. Angela walked over, and put a hand of comfort on Maura's free shoulder.

"Has he committed any crimes, Agent Gibbs?" Angela asked.

"Not technically," Gibbs replied. "Not _yet_."

"Okay, he cussed after hitting his window or door, and he was a creep to Maura in her own home, but he really hasn't done anything illegal," Jane replied. "We can't arrest him on charges of excessive creepiness or being a jerk."

"That's true," Kate added. "But you can watch for stalking."

"_Stalking_?" Maura said, and then Jane and Frankie got what Kate was getting at.

"That's how the Laura Genser case started. Two years ago," Jane mused.

"Guy starts up like this - like tonight - and graduated all the way to homicide," Frankie added. Laura Genser - a grad student at BCU - was killed by a painter, who admitted he wouldn't take no for an answer and killed her when he knew she wouldn't leave her wife.

"The crime scene was a mess," Jane remembered. "One of the first cases I worked with Frost...something neither one of us will ever forget. We got the bastard, too...shot him dead after he tried to kidnap another co-ed...I don't think we can put a BOLO out on Rockmond, but we sure as hell can keep an eye on him."

"I'll tell my boss," Frankie said. "Have every officer keep an eye on him, too."

"And I'll call Cavanaugh, and Korsak and Frost," Jane said. "Woody, Roz. Riley. Everyone else in homicide, and the drug unit. Maura'll give a heads up to Jordan and Susie and the rest of the M.E. staff."

As Frankie and Kate discussed the situation with Maura and Angela, Jane pulled the sketch pad out of Kate's bag, looked at it, then took Gibbs aside.

"Gibbs," she said in a whisper. "You think he's just a stalker. Or something else?"

She showed him the sketch of the man Rondo saw at the bar and grill early that morning.

"Maybe," Gibbs said. "No evidence at the moment pointing him to _that_."

"But your gut-"

"Let's keep an eye on Rockmond and keep your partner safe," Gibbs advised. "And keep looking for whomever the killer is in the Venus de Milo cases."

Jane knew better than to dismiss Gibbs' gut and advice.

The more she looked at the sketch, the more it seemed to match Rockmond.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**Los Angeles**

**NCIS Office of Special Projects**

It was the middle of the night in southern California, and most of the people who worked at the Office of Special Projects were home, sound asleep.

On the other hand, the members of the Special Ops team based out of Los Angeles were here at the OSP's Spanish mission headquarters, known to the public as an abandoned utility building.

One of their teammates, special agent Dom Vail, died in the line a few days ago, and the team was looking for the men behind his abduction. No one slept unless they had to.

Some - like Special Agent Julie Todd - slept in spurts, then put in a solid 30-minute run to stay sharp.

Her 'injury' during the mission to rescue Vail was faked, a ruse to draw out the only man amongst the captors who managed to escape.

Physically, Julie was fine and well.

Emotionally, she was torn up and, like everyone else on the team, was 'playing hurt'.

The blonde-haired agent didn't walk away from the treadmill without making sure to take Dom's green-headed alien bobblehead figure on its dashboard with her. It served as a touchstone for a friend with a full life ahead of him, snuffed out before its time.

This is the nightmare Julie lived through last year, with her twin sister, Kate.

Neither Julie nor her teammates were yet aware of the Venus de Milo killings along the east coast nor that Kate and her boss were working alongside Boston homicided detectives in tracking the killer.

In a short while, they'd be up to speed on that case, and on a possible connection to their own case.

The woman who ran the L.A. office - Operations Manager Henrietta "Hetty" Lange - was in her office, on the phone with NCIS Director Jenny Shepard. Hetty just been debriefed on the Venus de Milo case and the involvement of Gibbs and Kate; now, she was reviewing the Vail case with her own boss.

"As you know, Director, Mr. Vail went missing several weeks before, captured by hired professionals working for a militant group, hoping to facilitate a prisoner exchange," Hetty said. "Our Special Ops team searched in vain for him. We declared Dom missing. A lucky break reopened the case and I sent our team back in search of their teammate."

"You found he was held captive in an office building in Los Angeles?" Jenny asked. "Owned by someone working with the militants?"

"Correct," Hetty replied. "We also discovered one of the leaders of this militant group was involved with Ari Haswari."

"Ahmed al-Abed. Joined Fighters of God to head its Los Angeles operation, sent to assist in the Boston operation," Jenny continued. "Slipped through our fingers. Wasn't there when we finally killed Ari. Resurfaces, here."

"And because of that, I had to make a choice with Juliana," Hetty added. "I chose to use her as bait - to draw out al-Abed. We faked her injury, and by _we_ I mean Juliana, Detective Marty Deeks and myself."

"And, despite that, you failed to _capture_ him, and Dom was killed," Jenny said. "I spoke with your immediate boss, Leon Vance. He thinks your team did what it could, in both circumstances. I _chose_ to take his word, and I _expect_ you to bring him in this time."

To Hetty's chagrin, Director Shepard hung up.

"Bugger!" Hetty shouted, and picked up the phone, calling the team's technical specialist, Eric Beale. "Mr. Beale. Put up the files and photographs; the rest of the team will be in Ops shortly."

Hetty whistled loudly, getting the other team members' attention.

Julie ran to the Ops Center without showering, getting there right at the same time Special Agent in Charge G Callen and Special Agents Sam Hanna and Kensi Blye did. Waiting on them were Beale and operational psychologist Nate Getz.

"Ahmed al-Abed has been found in Inglewood," Beale said, showing a myriad of photos and files overlaying a map of an Inglewood neighborhood. "He's in a safe house, waiting to be picked up-"

"-and we need to apprehend him soon," said Hetty, walking through the doors into the Ops Center. "Not just because of his connection to Dom. He also has a connection to an important case our Washington Major Case Response Team is working."

"Gibbs' team," Callen said.

"Mr. Beale," Hetty said, and security camera footage from the hospital Julie was placed in appeared on screen.

"After Julie was admitted, al-Abed showed up asking about her," Beale said. "Our agents pretending to be receptionists played dumb. While he was going from reception area to reception area, our San Diego team placed bugs on his car. We tracked him to this Inglewood neighborhood, to this house, a known safe house for drug runners working with various cartels."

"al-Abed has not moved since entering the house late last evening," Hetty continued. "Two of our San Diego office's agents have eyes on him, as does the FBI and Homeland. NCIS will get first crack at him, and Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna will work with the strike team to apprehend him, then take him to the boathouse for questioning."

"Questioning about Dom," Sam stated.

"Yes, and about this particular case," Hetty added, as Eric put photos and files regarding the Venus de Milo killings on screen. Hetty then debriefed the team about that case, and NCIS's involvement in it.

"Kate's in Boston, with Gibbs," Julie said. "How does this connect to this al-Abed guy?"

On cue, Beale posted records of a phone call several hours before between the safe house and someone in Boston, and a withdrawal of $20,000 from a Cayman Islands bank account around the same time. Beale played the recording of the phone call.

Both men spoke Portuguese, as did Kensi, who translated the conversation.

"They're arguing...why in hell are you taking that much money?...I need to lay low, need to survive...that's my money...no that's my money and I am certain you can afford it on your salary...don't screw me, take a couple thousand bucks, I'll set up a hit for you on a cop and a doctor, all you have to do is get here..."

Then there were a string of profanities by both men.

"al-Abed tells the other guy he's keeping the money, to go write a book or go on a motivation tour, then hangs up," Kensi said.

"The one guy's Middle Eastern, the other guy sounds American, and both speak Portuguese," Callen said.

"Not very fluent Portuguese, either," Kensi said. "Not their first language."

"Who called who?" Julie asked.

"al-Abed called the other guy," Beale replied. "It's a Boston cell phone, not a burner. It's registered to a Dennis Rockmond."

"Who's Dennis Rockmond?" Callen said.

"He's a minor celebrity," Beale replied. "Think Tony Robbins, on a more local scale."

A minute later, Rockmond's publicity photo and biographical information - along with the number al-Amed called - appeared on the big screen in the ops center.

"Motivational speaker?" Julie said. "What's al-Abed doing with him?"

"Maybe he helps fund him?" Kensi.

"No," Hetty said. "There is more to this story."

"How much more," Julie asked her. "Why don't you tell us the rest of it already?"

"Patience, Ms. Todd," Hetty politely replied. "As you know, al-Abed was part of the Fighters of God terrorist group, and one of Ari Haswari's point men in the United States. He was initially assigned to Los Angeles, later reassigned to assist in the Fighters' operations in Boston."

"Shot up half the city going after a local mob boss and the local police," Sam said. "Dozens dead, hundreds injured."

"Patrick Doyle," Callen added. "Major mob boss. Father of Dr. Maura Isles-"

"-who Ari was trying to murder," Julie added. "Hetty. Was the guy al-Abed spoke to part of this group?"

"No," Hetty answered. "The connection, it appears, is with the Fighters of God."

It took just a few moments for that to sink in with everyone.

"Eric," Hetty said, motioning for him to put up photos from last year's terrorist attacks in Boston on the screen. These photos showed al-Abed and a white male, either sitting together in a car or running on foot.

"The man with al-Abed is Mark Dugan, a known mercenary believed to have died several months ago after being the subject of a massive pursuit," Hetty continued. "Dugan's car was found in the Charles River. His body was not found, neither in the car nor anywhere else."

"Heard about it from Kate," Julie observed. "Every federal agency in the city and the Boston police investigated after they found the car. They determined that there was no way he could've survived; even if his body stayed in the car it would've been swept out in the river."

Dugan's ID photos now took up the majority of the screen; they were from drivers' licenses and his passport.

"He was declared dead," Julie continued. "Kate was relieved, and said Jane and Maura were as well."

"Who could blame them?" Kensi.

"And yet, the story does not end there," Hetty said. "Mr. Beale. Please put the publicity photo of Rockmond side by side with the mugshot of Dugan."

Eric did so.

"Twins? Coincidence?" Kensi.

"There are _no_ coincidences," Julie said, stepping closer to the screen to study the photos. "It's the same guy."

"That is my conjecture as well, Ms. Todd, and one I presented to the Director," Hetty said. "From their police vehicle footage, and case records, there was an approximate ten-second period before Dugan's vehicle entered the Charles River in which the Boston police and FBI vehicles chasing him lost sight of him."

"That could have been enough time for him to slow down enough to jump out of his car," Callen mused. "You'd have to retrace the chase route, buildings along it, find any potential hiding places-"

"Going that fast, probably 70-80 miles an hour?" Sam asked.

"If you were fit and prepared enough, and hit your hiding spot just right, you could survive," Callen replied. "You'd be bruised, may have to lay low for awhile to recuperate...Hetty. You're confident this Dugan guy and Rockmond are the same person? And he is the one al-Abed talked to?"

"Yes, Mr. Callen," Hetty said. "Ms. Todd. Ms. Blye and Mr. Getz will head to the Coronado Naval Air Station, to catch a C-130 to the Boston Naval Base. Mr. Callen, you and Mr. Hanna will find al-Abed and bring him in for questioning."

"Okay, what are we doing in Boston?" Julie asked Hetty, who handed her, Kensi and Nate folders.

"This has information about the Venus de Milo case that Agent Gibbs and his team are assisting the Boston Police's Homicide department with," Hetty said. "I want you three to provide assistance, while searching for any connection locally between Dugan and Rockmond."

"We should retrace that chase route," Kensi added. "Find where he would have bailed."

Hetty nodded. "And Mr. Getz, I want you to help Caitlin and the Boston police build an updated profile on this man."

"What are we supposed to do with _Gibbs_?" Nate replied. "He doesn't like working with anyone outside his team-"

Julie nodded, as Hetty held up her hand to quiet Getz.

"I am well aware of Jethro's philosophy," Hetty said. "You will work with him but if he presents any problem I will deal with him _myself_ if necessary. Meanwhile, I will update Director Shephard, who assured me her assistance with Jethro should it be needed."

**Boston, hours before**

Dennis Rockmond finished a short, animated and angry conversation with a former associate who took twenty grand out of one of Rockmond's accounts, by throwing his cell against his plasma TV screen.

Afterwards, Rockmond picked up a piece of plaster and threw it against the wall, then screamed a stream of obscenities.

It was a good thing his apartment was soundproof.

He calmed down, with the help of a couple of drinks, then told himself things would be alright. Transfer the rest of the money, shut down the account, get his ducks in a row, plan for life in Mexico.

Then he reminded himself of unfinished business.

What if they were on to him?

_Screw al-Abed._ _Yeah, I could have used the bastard's help and had him take out the agents, instead of the dykes I told him about._

_Leave them for myself._

Rockmond spent 15 frantic minutes making sure his funding was set up, then the next 15 figuring out his end game in Boston.

He sent off an email, timed to arrive in the detective's inbox in several hours.

Then, he walked into his studio, put his latest creation on the dolly, and wheeled it to the doorway.

After he grabbed a Red Bull out of the kitchen fridge, he wheeled the statue to the elevator shaft in his apartment, to take it to its destination.

**Hours later**

**Maura Isles' home**

Jo Friday woke up Jane Rizzoli just ahead of the alarm clock.

"Hey Maur," Jane mumbled as her terrier licked her cheek; Jane stirred awake, momentarily shocked.

"Jo?!" Jane said, sitting up on her side of the bed in Maura Isles' master bedroom, just as the alarm clock on the radio rang. Jane reached over and blindly tapped on the radio a few times before the alarm stopped, then grabbed Jo Friday and held the dog to her chest.

"Jo!" Jane said, scratching her terrier's ears. "What'dya I _tell_ you about waking me up like that?"

"I've always wondered why you do that," said Maura, walking out of the master bathroom into the bedroom, and fully dressed.

"Do what?" Jane asked, as Jo panted, wagging her tail.

"Dogs do not respond to complex verbal commands, like humans," Maura replied. "If you want, my offer to have Mr. George train her stands."

"He calls himself a dog whisperer," Jane said. "He's gonna charge you hundreds of dollars to talk to her and wag his finger and sit on your couch. I _already_ do that. And I save you the money."

"You spend the money in other ways. Including that awful, awful store-brought, hot liquid you drink," Maura teased.

"It's _coffee_, Dr. Snob, and it's instant," Jane replied, putting Jo down on the floor. "You like your coffee to take hours to brew. I like mine before breakfast, not when I come home from work."

"And I like you," Maura said, abruptly putting her arms around Jane's neck. "Before breakfast. After work. And _there_."

Maura nodded to the bed. "Oh, is that _right_?" Jane mumbled, giving Maura a peck on the lips.

"Yes, Jane," Maura answered, before reaching up to give Jane a more lengthy, passionate kiss.

Jo Friday panted as the two women enjoyed one of their moments, then barked at the knock on Maura's bedroom door.

"Jane? Maura?"

It was Kate Todd, on the other side.

"Gibbs is in your _kitchen_," she said. "Your mother's feeding him a sandwich, Jane. I think she's in love. And I _know_ he's ready to _work_."

"Crap," Jane muttered, breaking the kiss. "I'll jump in the shower. You and Kate head on with Gibbs, I'll meet you at the station."

Maura nodded, then gave Jane a hug and another kiss. "Make sure you wear the outfit I picked out for you last night," Maura told Jane. "And those shoes I bought for you."

"Yes, ma," Jane joked, shutting the bathroom door behind her.

**Division One station**

**Homicide's interrogation room**

The first official suspect in the Venus de Milo killings - Todd Brown, a bearded, white male nicknamed 'Bear' - was brought into the interrogation room by two uniformed officers.

Awaiting him were detectives Rizzoli and Barry Frost, who would get first crack at him. Watching on the other side of the glass, in the observation room, was Gibbs, who'd get the next crack at 'Bear'; Kate; Maura; and Detective Vince Korsak.

"That's the guy the prostitutes described to us who liked to strangle women," Kate said to Gibbs, as Jane began the interrogation.

"Not the guy in the _sketch_," Gibbs replied. Kate looked at him closely for several moments.

"You alright?" she asked him. "You looked pissed off. More than usual."

"Spoke with the Director," Gibbs said. "And the operations manager in Los Angeles. We'll have company. Including your sister."

This was news to Korsak and Maura, and presumably, the rest of the Homicide department. Maura - noticing Korsak about to speak up - put her hand on his arm, then shot a look at him. Let me handle Gibbs.

"Is this relating to the case, Gibbs?" Maura asked him.

"Not to the case," he said, before looking back at the interrogation. Jane and Frost were showing Bear pictures of the victims.

Bear's response was aggressive.

"He seems to be rationalizing maladaptive behavior," Maura commented. "Psychopaths have a sparse emotional life. His emotions feel genuine."

"He reacted very strongly when Jane and Frost showed him those photographs and in commenting on his arrest," Kate added. "I agree with Maura. He doesn't fit the profile of a psychopath. Psychopaths are calm-"

"They're calm and methodical when discussing their actions," Gibbs interjected. "He's not."

"Not a psychopath?" Korsak said.

"Not our killer, either," Gibbs said.

"You're pretty certain about this," Korsak replied. "He seems to have the same build as the guy Rondo described. And Rondo saw him from a distance."

"Still doesn't fit the sketch," Gibbs said, as Jane walked out of interrogation; moments later she walked through the door into the observation room. "Gibbs. You want a crack at this guy?"

"No need," Gibbs said. "He's not our killer."

"Excuse me?"

"Ask our profilers," he said.

Bear was charged with assault for throwing some of the tools in his truck at the arresting officers. Frost joined everyone else in interrogation, only for Gibbs to motion to him they were leaving – or, at least, **he** was.

"Jane, Korsak, Frost. Need to talk to you three with your boss. Kate, fill 'em in."

Gibbs walked out, towards Cavanaugh's office, leaving Kate and Maura to 'fill in' Jane and Frost.

"That's his way," Maura said to the detectives, apologetically.

"He said to agent Todd we're getting company," Korsak said, as the five made their way towards Cavanaugh's office.

"Gibbs mentioned my sister," Kate said. "He meant my twin, Julie, not our older sister Rachel. Julie works undercover."

"Los Angeles. Special ops," Jane replied. "If they're coming here...it's something big."

"I assume Gibbs will fill in the rest," Korsak said.

Jane glanced back at Bear, still handcuffed to the interrogation table, and still angry. "He's being charged with assault. He threw his tools at one of the officers when they arrested him."

**Lt. Sean Cavanaugh's office**

Gibbs filled in the Homicide team and Kate about Hetty Lange's theory regarding Dugan and Rockmond.

"Frankie Rizzoli was one of the officers involved in the Dugan chase," Cavanaugh said. "I can have him and your fellow agents retrace the last mile. NCIS has security camera footage; they requested it late last night."

"Hetty," Gibbs muttered.

"As far as Rockmond is concerned," Cavanaugh said, "until I have proof he's involved in this, I can't charge him with anything."

"_We_ can," Gibbs reminded the lieutenant. "Director says she's having Los Angeles email the audio file to your account."

Cavanaugh checked his email account; in his inbox, from Director Shepard herself, was an email with an audio attachment. He played it, and he, the team, Gibbs and Kate heard the conversation between the terrorist and Dugan/Rockmond.

"The guy talking to the guy our people believe to be Rockmond _killed_ an NCIS agent." Gibbs looked squarely at Cavanaugh. "If Dugan's alive, if Rockmond's involved, if Rockmond is Dugan. We _want_ this bastard."

"Whoever he is, you'll get him," Cavanaugh said. "I'll send this down to our crime scene unit for analysis. We'll follow up in the meantime on Brown and the plaster they found in his truck. Right now, that plaster's the best lead we've had on finding the killer."

**Homicide squadroom**

As Frost pulled up the audio file, and Korsak and Kate began checking up on Brown's military and credit card records, Jane sat at her desk.

"We need to check on any possible connection to Charles Hoyt," Jane said of her dead nemesis, the serial killer known as 'The Surgeon'.

"Doesn't fit Hoyt's M.O.," Gibbs said, looking over her shoulder.

"Hoyt's dead, but a copycat wouldn't be," she replied. "Call it my gut feeling."

"I've already called and emailed detectives in St. Paul, Tampa and Philadelphia, checking on connections to Hoyt," Frost said.

Jane opened her email, then saw something odd in her inbox.

She clicked on the email, first noticing that Gibbs' NCIS address was copied in on it, then the subject line.

"'Dear Boss', all caps," she said, as Gibbs looked on; Kate, noticing, walked over. "It says...'Dear Boss. Do you like my work? Make sure you don't give the wrong sculptor credit. I'm about to scuplt my finest piece of work.'"

Kate looked at the time stamp: the email arrived in Jane's inbox 40 minutes ago.

"Kate! Call _DiNozzo_, send this to McGee. Have him trace where the hell it came from," Gibbs ordered his agent. "My email, too."

As Kate called Washington, Cavanaugh ran into the squadroom with more unwanted news: another body was found at the Boston Municipal Zoo.

**Boston Navy Yard airfield**

The U.S. Navy C-130 Hercules transport plane landed safely at the Navy Yard's sole airstrip, then unloaded its cargo, including Kensi Blye, Julie Todd and Nate Getz. They jumped in a U.S. Marine Corps HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle), the military version of a Humvee.

The Marines driving the vehicle said they were taking the agents to the zoo, where another victim was found. Julie called Hetty, who updated the trio on the arrest of al-Abed at his Inglewood safehouse; Sam and Callen were taking him to the boathouse; and on the email sent to Gibbs and Jane.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**Boston Municipal Zoo**

Kate jumped into Gibbs' rental car and steeled herself for another very fast and very wild ride-along. When she joined Gibbs' team a few years ago, Kate hated riding with the man; if he didn't have his badge his style would have gotten him arrested and his license permanently suspended, to say the least.

From then until now, Kate became accustomed to, and okay with, Gibbs' style. Not only was she confident he wasn't going to get them killed, she had grown to trust him.

And like him as more than a boss, no matter how deep she tried to bury those particular emotions.

She even grew to enjoy Gibbs' driving just a bit, telling herself it was a small part in making her job as interesting as it was, and that it was, well, fun.

The Venus de Milo killer had left his latest 'masterpiece' for the city of Boston to find, and fun was not on either agent's minds.

Gibbs followed the Boston Police cruiser straight to the zoo, which was popular amongst young families.

"How does this fit into the killer's M.O.?" Gibbs asked, as they closed in on the zoo grounds.

"We'll have to look at the statue - and the victim - to see how they compare to the others," Kate replied. "We're going to a zoo...a public place, like the other places statues were found. Zoos, parks...a church."

"A big church," Gibbs replied. "St. Petersburg, Florida. Megachurch popular among young couples with children. Right in front of the entrance."

"Local police followed up on it, right?"

"So did we. Jacksonville office sent an agent. Said it _weirded_ him _out_." Gibbs said, then chuckled. "Similar to the cases we had in DC and up here."

"The killer's putting these...things...in places where families congregate," Kate realized. "Maybe we're looking for a killer with a grudge against families?"

"I'm playing a hunch, Kate, and having Duck examine the DC victims for signs of a recent pregnancy and having the others look into their backgrounds," Gibbs added.

"Like did or do they have kids."

"Yeah," Gibbs said, as the cruiser leading them slowed down. "Don't bring that up yet with the detectives. I'll bring it up with Maura, and Rizzoli."

The cruiser blared its horns, as four uniformed officers ran up: on Kate's passenger side, she saw a reporter and a camerawoman from a local TV station.

"Reporters," she said to Gibbs.

"And onlookers," Gibbs said back.

The uniforms cleared a pathway for the cars to get closer to the building; they drove through the entrance, into a special cops-only area set up by the police, then got out and saw a crowd of cops and detectives around a statue.

"Right off the main entrance, where people would easily see it," Kate said. She saw Gibbs glancing backwards, and she followed suit; they saw a mob of gawkers, and reporters trying to get through the police barricades.

Then they saw more police push the crowd aside, and a U.S. Marine Corps Humvee drive to the parking area, stopping behind Jane Rizzoli's car.

"_Marines_?" Kate said.

"No. _Us_," Gibbs said. "NCIS. Los Angeles office."

"OSP? Callen?"

The Marine driving the vehicle opened the doors for his passengers, all of whom were from the Office of Special Projects L.A. office, but its Special Agent in Charge, G Callen, wasn't among them.

"No, your _sister_," Gibbs said to Kate, and they saw a blonde-haired woman who - although she was Kate's twin - looked more like Dr. Isles than Kate herself. With her were a raven-haired, athletic woman and a tall thin man whom Kate thought was in need of a shave.

The blonde - Special Agent Julie Todd - led her teammates, Special Agent Kensi Blye and Operational Psychologist Nate Getz, to Gibbs and Kate.

"Director said you'd be here; didn't think it'd be _this_ quick," Gibbs said.

"Hetty put us on an overnight military flight straight into the city," Julie said. Following a quick round of intro(and re-intro)ductions, Julie dropped a bomb.

"We need privacy," she said, as she saw a man in a suit approaching them. "NCIS only for the moment."

Before Boston P.D. Lieutenant Sean Cavanaugh could get to them, the five had reentered the Humvee, the Marine driver standing guard. Five minutes later, Gibbs opened the door and motioned for the Marine to let Cavanaugh in.

Julie dropped a bomb on Cavanaugh, telling him about the terrorists who killed her teammate, then one of their leaders talking with another terrorist thought to be dead - and that the dead man was in likelihood Dennis Rockmond.

"Thanks for sending me the recording. I gotta ask. If you think he's the guy, why aren't you bringing him in right _now_?" Cavanaugh asked Julie.

"The NCIS Director wants to make _certain_ he's the guy, wants _you_ involved, and wants us to verify certain details of his personal history," said Julie, whom Cavanaugh judged to sound and look like Maura and act more like Jane.

"Gibbs?" Cavanaugh said to the senior NCIS agent amongst them.

"Right now all L.A. can get him for is what he said to this al-Abed guy," Gibbs replied. "My team's looking into Rockmond's background now. How it ties into the profile Kate is working on. How he compares physically to Dugan-"

"Feds had very little background on Dugan if I remember," Cavanaugh replied. "Most of his info was wiped clean. There were a few pictures. Feds didn't give us a whole lot."

"My and Julie's brother Daniel is an FBI agent who was involved in the chase where Dugan was believed to have died," Kate said. "He didn't hide anything. He gave you what they _had_."

"I know Danny well, Agents Todd," Cavanaugh said to the twins. "I know he wouldn't screw us if he didn't have to, and I also know he's gotta follow orders...that's why I like you guys a little more. You don't worry about orders so much."

Gibbs chuckled. "You're right, Sean," he said. "We don't _work_ for the FBI. And my people know where to _dig_."

There was a knock on the door; Gibbs opened it, and saw the Marine with a somewhat exasperated Jane Rizzoli.

"Sir, sorry to interrupt your...get-together," said Jane, "but we _do_ have a body over there."

"Bet you wouldn't say that if Daniel Todd or Gabriel Dean were in here," Gibbs quipped.

"Probably not. But I'm pretty sure you won't headslap me either," Jane quipped back.

"Doesn't mean _I _won't," Cavanaugh said, with a half-smile. "You and the NCIS agents go over there. I'm gonna call the chief and suggest we put out a BOLO on Dennis Rockmond."

"BOLO? Over what-you think he's the killer?" Jane asked, somewhat shocked.

"For now, on a separate issue," said Julie. "I got a text on the way from Hetty. She wants us to ask for your help in apprehending Rockmond on the al-Abed case, and bring him in as a person of interest."

"You got it," Cavanaugh told her.

"Okay then. Let's take a look at that statue," she replied.

Korsak met them 20 feet away and was introduced to the LA team. Detective Hoyt watched Maura examine - and sniff - the statue, while detectives Frost and Framus were nearby.

Kensi looked at Maura, then turned to Kate and Julie. "You sure that woman's not your sister?" Kensi whispered. "Jules, you and she could be _TWINS_-"

"Yes," Kate interjected. "I'm sure we're not—"

"_No_, and not now," Julie answered.

"This thing's gone national," Korsak told them. "Every news network, local and national, you can think of. Some I've never heard of."

Gibbs pulled Julie aside, as Jane jogged over towards the statue. "Asked Hetty why I needed the help."

"And?" Julie replied, with a wink.

"Still waiting," Gibbs answered; Julie smiled, cocking her head - just like her brown-haired twin, Kate.

Korsak had eavesdropped on the conversation, noting that Julie Todd looked a lot like Dr. Isles, and showed a hint of the spunky demeanor Jane once referenced.

After Ari Haswari's death allowed Jane and Maura to return to their lives in Boston, Jane debriefed Cavanaugh and some of the Homicide detectives on the Washington team and their associates, including Julie.

The issue of Maura being a long-lost triplet of the Todd twins was raised, but never conclusively proved; officially, Maura was still the birth daughter of Paddy Doyle and Hope Martin.

Korsak planned to ask Cavanaugh about looking into that after they found the killer.

He noted Julie abruptly switched to a more serious demeanor, matching Gibbs and Kate and everyone else.

The only oddity of the moment was Maura sniffing around the base, which was in fact normal behavior to those who knew the medical examiner. Not so much to Kensi and Nate.

"I can see the headlines: 'medical examiner sniffs out clues,'" Jane said sarcastically over Maura's shoulder.

"I smell a heavy, particulate odor; there is definitely a body inside," Maura replied to Jane, matter-of-factly.

"That's why we're here," said Kate with a smile, cocking her head; Jane nodded in agreement.

"It's why we're here, too," interjected Julie, as she, Kensi and Nate showed their NCIS badges.

"NCIS's Los Angeles office sent two agents and a psychologist here," Gibbs said, making one-word introductions: "Julie. Blye. Getz."

Before fuller introductions could be made, Frost walked up to the group, telling them every security camera within sight of the statue had been taken out. His cell phone then buzzed, with a text message from a detective in St. Paul, Minnesota.

That detective said the suspect in their dismembered prostitute case was Frederick Stone - who once shared a cell with Jane's nemesis, now-dead Charles Hoyt - and was at-large.

"Kate'll fill you three in on Hoyt later," Gibbs said to the LA trio. "Great Lakes" - the NCIS office north of Chicago - "can look into Stone."

"Looks like your gut paid off," Kate said to Jane.

Gibbs was unconvinced that it had.

**Division One HQ**

After getting the zoo victim back to the morgue, Maura looked over her body and those of the last two victims. She was joined by the NCIS "people" - as Maura's assistant Susie Chang referred to them - and Detective Hoyt. Three of Gibbs and Kate's team from Washington - agent Tony DiNozzo, Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard and forensics specialist Abby Sciuto - were on a TV monitor.

"So none of the victims had any bruises to indicate they fought back," Kensi said, to clarify what Maura had just told her.

"Probably because they were high on heroin," Jane said.

Susie then came in with a toxicology report on the victims: the latest victim had cocaine in her system.

"Heroin normally makes one agitated," Kate said. "Have you tested for another agent?"

"Like a sedative," Julie added. "Sedatives would explain why they didn't fight back."

"Dr. Mallard," Maura then asked, looking to the monitor. "Does this victim match your findings?" The DC victim from the abandoned steak house's freezer also had cocaine, not heroin, and Ducky and Abby verified their victims died the same way as the Boston vics.

"And, McGee says the security cameras here in DC were disabled the same way as up there, with a laser pointer," Tony added. "No prints on the cameras."

"The other item you asked me about, Jethro," Ducky said. "One of our victims had recently given birth, but not our latest. Have you found anything similar, Dr. Isles?"

"Haven't told them yet," Gibbs interjected, before Maura could respond, and to the detectives' surprise.

"Just another day with Jethro Gibbs," Jane said. "Think ten steps ahead and forget to fill everyone else in—"

"Filling you in now, Rizzoli," Gibbs replied.

"I'll check our victims for signs of birth, and have the lab check for sedatives in their bodies," Maura said, nodding for Susie – standing nearby – to start the tests. Abby said she was already doing the same in her lab.

The detectives and NCIS agents - and Tony via video - reviewed the case, focusing on Stone as the prime suspect of the moment.

"Ziva's checking on our vics' backgrounds; nothing yet on them having kids," said Tony, as Ziva rushed in with a sheet of paper.

"Our latest victim from the steakhouse gave birth to a girl 13 months ago and then gave her up for adoption," Ziva said. "The victim before her, has a son being cared for by the victim's grandmother."

"We'll start running background on these vics," said Detective Hoyt, who left for the squadroom.

Maura said given the exact conditions the older victim - nicknamed 'Cruella' - was kept in, the window of time of death could extend several months. Then Frost and Jane offered that Stone may have killed Cruella, then extended his killing spree to one per city until he got back to Boston.

"Doesn't explain the latest victims," Gibbs said, "and why Stone's in St. Paul."

"He'd have to be _Superman_, Boss, to get to the east coast and commit the murders according to the timeline," Tony added.

"You think he's on the east coast, DiNozzo - or here in Boston?" Kate asked him. Tony nodded his head, Kate looked to Gibbs, who nodded his assent.

"You think the killer's _here_?" Jane said to Gibbs.

"Yeah I do," he said. "Timeline of the killings makes sense if the killer's working out of Boston." Gibbs walked to a nearby eraserboard, and showed how a killer could commit each crime if he used Boston as his base.

"There's something else, too," Gibbs said, as Jane's cell phone buzzed; she excused herself to attend to some "crisis" with her mother in the cafe. She explained the situation to Cavanaugh, who was coming into the morgue and nodded his assent.

"In my _office_," he told them. "The chief and the director of NCIS are on the phone for an impromptu teleconference. We'll wait for Rizzoli to get back."

"I need to wait for Susie to deliver the tox results," said Maura. "I'll be up there as soon as I can."

While Jane was preoccupied momentarily with a Rizzoli family-related drama in the cafe, the teleconference began in Cavanaugh's office.

On the line were Boston's chief of police, NCIS director Jenny Shepard and the Los Angeles office Operations Manager Hetty Lange.

"I had Mr. Beale examine the recording between al-Abed and the man we believe to be Dugan," Hetty said. "We compared it to known audio and video recordings of Mr. Rockmond, and of audio recordings sent to us from Agent Fornell of the FBI. Our voice analysis software has a 99.9 percent match between the samples for Dugan and the samples for Rockmond."

"You're saying they're the same _guy_?" Jane said.

"Five minutes ago, Mr. Callen informed me that he and Mr. Hanna had just gotten al-Abed to give a full confession, not just of his role in Dom's death, but of his involvement in the phone call with Dugan," Hetty continued, with an urgent tone in her voice. "al-Abed verified that Dugan and Rockmond were the same man."

"We're going by a terrorist's word?" Gibbs said.

"And by photographs and a print he says he got from Dugan during a visit to Boston shortly before Dugan was believed to have died," Hetty continued. "The prints match those the FBI got from him during their own investigation-"

For a few moments, Hetty and Director Shepard talked over one another; Hetty stopped, and the director finished.

"They're the _same_ guy," Jenny said. "Gibbs. Julie. _Get_ him and bring him to the FBI Field Office for questioning-"

At that moment, Detective Riley Cooper burst into Cavanaugh's office. "Lieutenant, the FBI's just posted a bulletin to apprehend Dennis Rockmond on charges of terrorist activity-"

Chaos reigned for the next several moments, but Jane could think of only one person.

"Maura."

She abruptly ran past Cooper and out of Cavanaugh's office; Gibbs followed her out the office and down the stairs towards the morgue.

Gibbs caught up to Jane, just as she got to the morgue's entrance.

Jane frantically looked around. The vics were still on their slabs, and at first glance nothing looked out of place.

"Maura? Maura? _Maura_?!" Jane yelled. "Where _are_ you Maura?"

Then she saw one of Maura's shoes.

And Gibbs saw a tiny amount of blood splatter, across the sheet covering one of the vics.

Kate, Kensi, Riley and Frost burst through the entrance, and Susie followed behind, holding a report.

"She's gone," Jane said, quietly. "Ohmigod ohgod ohgod god she's _gone_..."

Her voice trailed off, as she looked at the shoe.

Gibbs said nothing, as the others asked what was going on.

He knew what Jane knew.

"_Kate_. They put that BOLO out yet?" barked Gibbs; she noticed fear in his voice unlike she had heard from him before, and it unnerved her. "_Kate_-AGENT TODD!"

"_Yes_," she said. "FBI's on its way."

"Bastard's got her," Gibbs said, as Jane turned to face he, Kate and others.

"Who's her...who's got who?" Frost said, before realizing Maura wasn't in the morgue. "Oh _shit_-"

"Dugan's got Maura," Gibbs said, looking at Jane. "This morgue. This is a crime scene. Before we process it we're gonna find Dugan and Maura. We're gonna _find_ Dugan before he can do _anything_ to Maura."


	18. Chapter 18

**Warning**: overt, though not overtly graphic, physical assault of Maura by the villain is depicted in the opening scene.

**Chapter 18**

**Morgue, Office of the Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts**

**minutes ago**

The moment Maura was alone in the vast room that made up her morgue, she continued her examination of the victims. She anticipated waiting a short while to see if the toxicology results came back quickly, then informing Susie to bring them upstairs to Cavanaugh's office if they took as long as she expected.

A few minutes passed, and Maura heard someone enter from the back; she looked up, saw Dennis Rockmond, and forced herself to maintain her composure.

"Maura."

Rockmond ran right at her, and before she could turn to run for the door, grab a phone to call for help, or yell, he was there. He grabbed her with one hand and clamped his other hand tightly over her mouth to silence her.

Just as Jane, Gibbs and others taught her, Maura kept her head about her, as panic would play into this man's plans and throw her completely at his mercy; calmness gave her a chance at striking at the right moment, where she might be able to surprise him and gain the advantage.

"Maura," he said, with a steely look that hinted at some long-simmering rage about to boil over on her. "You know today's my birthday?...do you?"

"Er...yes," she said. _Stay calm, stay focused. Try to figure out his weak spot-_

Rockmond unexpectedly pushed her all the way against a wall, hard; Maura felt her head hit the edge of something, and a sting at the base of her skull.

"_Today's_ my birthday," he said, unsettingly, as Maura made herself keep her head about her and ignore the fear in her gut. "I really needed to come here and relive the highest and lowest point of my year. _This_ is where they wheeled me in."

He looked around him, then back at Maura, with a scary grin creeping on his face.

"If it wasn't for you I'd be in the ground," he continued. Maura tried to think: _kick him in the knee? The shin? Below the belt? _

"I'm sure you probably...have other plans...but I would give anything to celebrate my birthday with you," he said, with that unsettling, half-evil grin.

"Wow," he continued, glancing over at the bodies. "You're at work...probably have plans with that bull-dyke detective girlfriend of yours later, huh?" A smirk formed on his face.

_It's now or never._ Maura kicked him in the shin, hard, hoping to knock him off-balance so she could make a run for it, or at least knock his hand off her mouth so she could scream.

It didn't work.

Rockmond bit his lip to keep from shouting, then whispered a string of obscenities.

Then he let go of her other arm, balled up his fist, and took a swing, drawing blood, some of which hit the floor from the force of the punch.

"Change of plans," he muttered, darkly; he loosened his grip on Maura's mouth, and the doctor fell to the floor, unconscious. He looked around the room, cursing himself for not bringing his handgun with him in case someone walked in.

Rockmond whipped out a syringe from his jacket pocket and, for good measure, jammed it in her side and emptied its contents – which, in his haste to get to the morgue to abduct her, Rockmond put only a fraction of the amount of sedative he normally administered to his victims. _That oughta keep you quiet. Better get my ass outta here, and you're coming with me._

For effect, he dragged her out to the back entrance, ignoring the shoe missing from her foot. Once he got to the back doorway, he flung her over his shoulder, and walked the short distance to the taxi he hijacked. Rockmond threw Maura in the back, then tossed the corpse of the driver whom he shot in the head with a silencer to the pavement.

When Gibbs, Jane and the others stormed into the morgue moments later, Rockmond was on his way to one of his apartments.

**Present**

Jane saw the blood, and Maura's pump. Then, she fell to the floor, in shock, kneeling over the shoe, with tears pouring from her eyes.

"He's...he's...he's got her," she stammered.

Gibbs - trying to maintain control – ran to her and picked her up by both of her arms.

"Rizzoli! Rizzoli!"

Jane - lost in her fright and uncertainty - didn't respond.

He briefly thought about yelling more loudly at her and even headslapping her back into her senses. Then, the parent in him took control of the situation, kicking the Asshole Special Agent In Charge Over Everyone And Everything part of his persona to the curb.

"Jane," he said, gently, as Kate, Frost and Kensi joined her side – Frost to support his fellow detective and work partner, Kate to keep Asshole Gibbs in check, and Kensi ready to intervene, in case Gibbs went beyond the pale – or needed her help to get the detectives on his side.

"Jane," Gibbs repeated himself, gently and firmly. "I need your head in the game. We are going to find Maura but to do that I need Detective Rizzoli at her best."

She responded much better to Daddy Gibbs, nodding and wiping her eyes after Frost handed her his handkerchief.

"She's not far," Kate said to reassure Jane. "He still in town, we know where he lives. We'll start there."

Then Gibbs began barking orders to the NCIS agents - Kate sketch and shoot, Blye bag and tag - and asked Frost to tell "the other Todd" to get down here.

As Gibbs gently told Jane to stand by, a host of detectives and uniforms burst through the door. Riley had called Cavanaugh after seeing Jane collapse to the floor; once the lieutenant was debriefed, he and Gibbs doled out assignments:

* Kensi Blye, Woody Hoyt and the available officers and detectives who participate in the chase that led to Mark Dugan's car crashing into the river - including Officer Frankie Rizzoli - would go back to the scene, retracing the steps and timeline, with the help of NCIS technical analyst Eric Beale in Los Angeles.

* Frost would follow up on a few leads via computer before joining the other agents and detectives into the field to search for Dugan/Rockmond and Maura.

* Nate Getz, sent to profile Dugan/Rockmond and help anticipate his next moves, would stay with Frost while looking over Kate's notes on the Venus de Milo killer and see if Dugan/Rockmond fit the killer's M.O.

* Gibbs, Julie Todd, Jane, Korsak, Kate, Cavanaugh and Riley Cooper would lead the search for Maura, after Cavanaugh made a brief appearance in the lab to explain the situation and tell the techies to speed up their tests.

Frost ran upstairs and saw Getz standing at his desk, with Gibbs' Washington team on Skype. He and Gets saw special agent Tim McGee sitting down, flanked by acting special agent in charge Tony DiNozzo; Mossad liaison Ziva David; and the NCIS Chief Medical Examiner Donald "Ducky" Mallard.

"Boss told me you'd need the help," McGee said, and Frost hoped the young agent had something substantial.

"Your eldest victim is Rachel Dugan," McGee said, sitting at his desk with the trio over his shoulder now a foursome – Director Jennifer Shepard had just joined the group. "One son, Mark Dugan, who would have been 36 years old today had he not allegedly died. History of being abused as a child, moved from foster home to foster home. Taken from his mother at age eight; pattern of abuse was mental and physicial, including cigarette burns at the bottom of his feet."

"Detective," Ducky said, raising his voice to ensure he would be heard. "This is consistent with the killer's M.O. The victims here, and there, and across the country also had cigarette burn markings on the soles of their feet...take a look at the commonalities between the victims and tell me what you see; I want to know if it is consistent with my own findings."

Frost pulled up a program that compared cases and looked for common key words and phrases and highlighted them; half of his screen was a bright yellow.

"Young - early twenties - all prostitutes, either just gave birth or did so in the past 24 months," Frost said. "Locations were in public places catering to young families."

"The places are symbolic," Getz interjected. "The killer resents mothers who are prostitutes; the locations are in public places where mothers would take their kids."

"The symbolism," Ducky added from Washington, "extends to the statue, if you want to call the plaster tomb he encased these unfortunate women in a statue. The Venus de Milo represented the goddess Aphrodite, who represented love and beauty."

"The broken off arms are an exact replica of the Venus de Milo's creator," Getz added. "No one knows why the original statue had its arms cut off-"

"Waitaminute," Tony interrupted, looking at the director. "Director. You went to one of Rockmond's speeches here in town, right? Where he also showed off some of his art?" Tony then explained that Rockmond was an amateur sculptor, and would take his pieces with him during his book and speaking tour.

"As Rockmond, he was an emcee at a dinner engagement I attended at Georgetown University," Jenny said. "The first emcee, of four. He showed a statue he said was in the Greek tradition that had a missing arm; he claimed it was representative of erotic love and sensuality."

"That's really weird, director," Frost said, after typing in some keywords into a search engine; moments afterwards a newspaper article from St. Petersburg appeared on his screen. "And creepy, if you ask me…I'm sending you guys a link. Newspaper article from his tour stop in Tampa, where he made the same remarks about one of his statues, with a picture."

McGee clicked on the link, and pulled up the article and accompanying photo.

"Not a Venus de Milo, but close," Ziva observed. "An amateur's attempt to follow 'the Greek classical style'. Both arms cut off, as well, above the elbow."

"What the hell does that mean, though?" Jenny said. "Dr. Getz?"

"At first glance, I'd say these statues represent possible Oedipus issues on the part of Rockmond/Dugan - if he is our killer," Nate replied. "Anger at his mother, mixed in with some sort of erotic longing. Perhaps longing for a long-lost so-called normal childhood-"

"If that's how this creep longs for normalcy," Tony said, "I'd hate to see him as a perv."

**Warehouse District, near the Charles River, Boston**

**Ops Center, Los Angeles**

Kensi jumped into a Civic that Boston PD's Drug Unit had confiscated from a local cocaine dealer, and been commandeered for undercover work.

It was close enough to Dugan's Pontiac that went into the river, and worked well enough for her purposes.

She sped up to 80, then down to 65 miles an hour. Ninety yards from the river where the Pontiac drove off the road, Kensi - donned in protective gear and padding head to toe - put on the brakes, slowing it to 40, then bailed out of the car.

The Civic had a passenger, a former stunt driver who was a friend of someone in the Drug Unit, and whom moved over into the driver's seat and put the brakes on well before it would have left pavement and flew into the drink.

Kensi hit the ground, and rolled into a hole near the road. She called out to the uniforms and detectives calling her name, getting their attention by waving her arms and shouting.

"Looks almost like a foxhole," she said, pointing it out to Woody Hoyt and the others. "Not freshly dug, may have been here for sometime...possibly during your chase."

"He slowed down, bailed out of the car and rolled off the road into this hole," Hoyt added. "One of the officers said he looked bulky. If he wore padding under his clothing, that would help explain him jumping out after slowing down."

"He would have had to slow down and hit the road just right, getting him to the foxhole without drawing attention," Kensi continued. "His training would have prepared him for something like that; the Fighters of God group he trained with used a variety of unorthodox methods to train for guerilla warfare."

Woody Hoyt jumped into the foxhole with Kensi, looking around. "So this guy's a radical?"

"Mercenary," she replied. "He could care less about ideology or religion. As long as Ari paid him enough money he was all in."

**Gibbs's car**

Kate, riding next to Gibbs, thought he might finally lose it.

Gibbs had that same intense, half-crazed, angered look that he had when Ari infiltrated Ducky's morgue, when Ari kidnapped Kate the first time, and in that barn when Ari was finally killed.

They did not need some Boston Cambridge University students to protest Big Oil by driving 10 miles an hour throughout the city. That's what they got, and he was _this_ close to jumping out of his car and going Mad Max on their collective spoiled behinds.

Kate looked back at Jane, sitting in the back seat, and decided if Gibbs didn't take care of them first, Jane would.

Fortunately, half a dozen police cars broke up the demonstration and the police caravan headed towards one of Rockmond's three known Boston residences resumed.

Kate's phone rang; she put it on speaker, and she and the other detectives were on conference call with Frost, who cut to their chase: one of the Venus de Milo suspects now was off the table.

"Frederick Stone was just picked up in Denver on a DUI charge," Frost said. "The detective there told me Stone just arrived in Denver from Las Vegas, where he's wanted for assault on one of their CSIs."

"So our primary suspect now is Rockmond," Gibbs said.

"Sirs?" said Susie Chang, standing next to Frost and Nate Getz. "The toxicology results from the three victims came back. We tested for sedatives as asked, and found propranolol. It's primarily used as a beta blocker but has several secondary uses, including as a sedative."

"All three victims had this propranolol, Ms. Chang," Gibbs asked.

"Yes," she said. "I also pulled the report Dr. Isles did on Dennis Rockmond. He had a propranolol overdose which the report says he nearly succumbed to."

"Bastard might've overdosed on the drug while he was administering it to someone else," Gibbs mused, driving towards Rockmond's apartment. "How far are we from the apartment?"

"Two blocks," said Jane, sitting in Gibbs' back seat, with Kate riding in the front passenger seat.

Shortly afterwards, the detectives, and 20 police cars, pulled up on the building which housed one of Rockmond's three known residences. Gibbs cursed the BCU students protesting Big Oil who held him up; they'd been here five minutes earlier otherwise.

Gibbs's phone rang; Cavanaugh - at Rockmond's townhouse near Fenway Park - was on the other line.

"Nothing here, Gibbs," the lieutenant said. "I got officers sitting on the place. Martinez and his crew checked out his other apartment, saw nothing. I hope to god he and Maura's there. I'm on my way."

Gibbs stopped off the side of the road near the front entrance; he, Jane and Kate were met at the entrance by Julie Todd and Riley Cooper and four officers. They determined Rockmond's apartment was at the top of the building and began making their way up as quickly as possible, while the officers secured the premises and began a room-by-room, floor-by-floor search for Maura and her captor.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's note:** This is the penultimate chapter of the story; the last chapter serves as an epilogue and a setup for the next story in the Rizzoli Isles & Todd series. Warning to readers - Maura is in great peril and things get intense, and there is a brief allusion to the villain's physical assault on her. And, the villain uses some fairly vulgar profanity. Comments and feedback aren't mandatory, but are appreciated.

**Chapter 19**

**Boston**

A car belonging to the local field office of the FBI drove past a group of students being arrested by Boston police officers, going at speeds up to 70 miles an hour.

It was six blocks and closing from the apartment building that legally belonged to Dennis Rockmond, whom federal and local law enforcement now saw to be an alias of wanted terrorist Mark Dugan.

Right after Boston Police put out the notice alerting local media and regional law enforcement of the abduction of Maura Isles and the BOLO on Rockmond, the FBI put Dugan right at the top of its Most Wanted list.

Daniel Todd – an FBI agent and head of its Boston field office, and the brother of NCIS agents Kate and Julie Todd – rode shotgun in the lead car of the Bureau's three-vehicle caravan, his ear listening to his friend Lt. Sean Cavanaugh debriefing him on Maura's abduction. Todd's car sped straight to The Gerittsen Building, where Rockmond was known to have an apartment on the top floor, complete with a private elevator.

By the time his driver screeched to a halt in front of The Gerittsen, Daniel Todd was up to speed; he ran to the entrance, where he was told Boston PD officers were beginning a room-by-room search for Dr. Isles, and that NCIS and SOU were headed straight for Rockmond's apartment.

Todd went towards the main elevator, but was told it was out of service; he cursed, then signalled his subordinate agents to follow him up the stairs. He looked back briefly, seeing a few bewildered residents among a sea of officers in the lobby spilling out the front entrance, then began running up the steps as fast as he could.

He got to the top floor just in time to see a group of three NCIS agents, three Homicide detectives and four BPD Special Operations Unit officers about to bust the door in. He saw the leads - Agent Gibbs, Detective Rizzoli and Sgt. Tamaro - nod to a very big burly officer holding a battering ram.

_Is that Joey Provenzo? The guy who played linebacker for the Pats-_

Daniel Todd lost his thought as the ex-football player breached the front door, and the group poured into the apartment, announcing themselves very loudly. He quickly caught up to the head - weapon drawn - and saw a guy he swore hit the river months before standing before him with a very scared hostage.

Dennis Rockmond, the slick motivational speaker suspected of buying his way onto the New York Times bestseller list, the sculptor 'inspired' by his fans, was gone. What Daniel Todd saw before him was a psychopath who would kill for lots of cash and to tame his personal demons.

How Mark Dugan – one of the men who worked for Ari Haswari – urvived was a question for another time. Right now, they needed to get Dr. Isles out alive.

"_DUGAN! LET HER GO_!" Gibbs shouted at Dugan, holding Maura at gunpoint in front of a series of sculptures, and quickly dragging her towards the elevator shaft.

"Maura?" Jane said; Daniel Todd saw a mixture of concern and fear in her face, then looked back at Dr. Isles, who had a black bruise on her cheek and eye, and was still groggy but very, very frightened.

Separately, Jane and one of the SOU officers took a few steps from the other agents, towards Dugan and Maura; Dugan's response was to dig the barrel of his gun into the side of Maura's head.

"GET _BACK_ MOTHERFUCKERS" he screamed, as Maura began to whimper. "_SHUT_ THE FUCK _UP_!"

"DUGAN GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" shouted Jane, taking one of her hands off her weapon to signal the madman to stop. "PLEASE..._PLEASE_..._please_."

Right then, Cavanaugh and Korsak arrived, and slipped in behind the group.

Dugan drug Maura right to the edge of the shaft and began to ramble.

"Look around you, Maura, look at my art."

Korsak - thinking one of the SOU officers was about to fire - moved next to him: "Don't shoot! He'll blow her head off!"

The sergeant looked back at Korsak like he was insane.

If Dugan heard the exchange, he didn't acknowledge it; his attention was on the others with their weapons drawn and pointing right at him.

"Look at my work. You're gonna be my latest creation," Dugan growled in Maura's ear, loud enough for everyone else to hear. "I was gonna honor you, just like my mother who gave me life, because you gave me back my miserable _FUCKING_ life. Now, I'm gonna _end_ you _and_ your butch girlfriend _and_ your pretty sister _and_ the Marine who _MADE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL_."

Dugan glanced briefly at Jane, then Kate, then Gibbs; Daniel swore he saw Satan himself in Dugan's expression.

"I'm not gonna make it, but I WILL take you four out _with_ me," Dugan sneered, eyes darting between Kate, Jane and Gibbs, and Maura beginning to sob. "And probably take a few of you out _too_. You must think you're real smart...no, _no_ you're not."

Jane started to answer him, but Cavanaugh put a firm hand on her shoulder to quiet her.

Dugan saw Julie Todd - standing between Gibbs and her sister Kate - who, like the others, had her weapon pointed at his head.

"You're the twin," Dugan muttered darkly. "Look just like the good doctor here...maybe you ARE her. I'll kill you too, for good measure...no idea why Ari didn't want you dead, sis; maybe he wanted to fuck brunettes."

"Put the gun _DOWN_ now Dugan and LET HER GO," Gibbs barked.

"You're in NO position to order me around," screamed Dugan, putting him free arm at Maura's neck, slightly choking her, before he resumed his rambling.

"What does it feel like? Knowing someone you care about and worked so hard to save will finally die as she should? That I'm putting 'Rizzles' to death? That I'm putting you two - Mr and Mrs. Kibbs - to death? That brother over there" - nodding to Daniel Todd - "is going to live through his own personal hell knowing he couldn't do a FUCKING thing to save those HE loves?"

"Only one who's gonna die today," Daniel replied, "is _you_."

"Do the smart thing," Kate said, cooly, "and surrender. Put the gun down. Let her go to us, then drop to your knees-"

"Bet you wanna drop to _your_ knees, bitch," Dugan sneered, then switched into manic mode. "_FUCK_ YOU! FUCK _ALL_ OF YOU!"

Maura, hysterical, struggled against Dugan's restraint, and he jammed the barrel of his weapon in the side of her head in response.

"Sixteen of you here and probably a shitload of cops below," Dugan shouted. "Hope you got sixteen body bags… I'm smarter and better than ALL of you and I'll probably even make it out of here alive...then I'll go down to Washington and kill the rest of your team, Gibbs...Ari trained me damn well and I know because of it I'm better than all of you-"

"Okay, okay!" Jane shouted, desperately, hoping to trick Dugan into thinking she was hysterical. "You're _right_, Dugan. You're _better_ than us. _Smarter_ than us."

"Damn fucking right," Dugan sneered. "Not even the genius Dr. Isles here and the Marine over there with his famous gut could keep up with me."

"Please," Maura finally spoke, breaking Jane and Kate's hearts; the others, focused only on putting a bullet through Dugan, didn't have that luxury.

"Oh I _like_ it when they beg knowing they're going to die," Dugan said, dragging Maura's bare feet right to the edge. "I've got an automatic in my back, gonna whip it out and kill you and them dead before your friends can get off a round."

"LET HER GO!" "Whoa whoa WHOA" "DROP THE GUN"

Gibbs, Cavanaugh and Jane shouted over one another; Jane put her weapon in her holster - Kate shook her head three times - and Cavanaugh and Korsak both shouted at her.

"Detective retrieve your weapon" "Jane take your gun back out"

"Hey, hey," said Jane, walking slowly towards the psychopath, and her beloved, hands out, fingers spread. "Dugan. We're all in your hands, all in your hands...take _me_ instead."

Dugan looked at her like she had spoken in tongues.

"Take me," Jane repeated. "I'll sacrifice myself. Let her go and put a bullet through me."

Gibbs glanced at Kate, then at Julie, who had snuck to his extreme left, behind one of the SOU officers and next to Riley Cooper.

Dugan looked at Jane hard, then spoke methodically.

"Ari offered me money and power. YOU, dyke, _this_ bitch, _that_ Marine and that _girl_ he had the hots for, all of you made my life a living hell. Last year. They could have let you die but no they moved heaven and earth to save your asses. I PAID. THE. PRICE. Changed my name. Looked over my shoulder, sure I'd be found out. You survived. You all went back to your lives."

Julie moved slowly, looking for just the right angle.

"I made sure to disguise myself so no one could recognize me and put on the acting job of my life to make sure I wasn't made," he growled. "And it worked. You couldn't even make me. Until the other night. Leroy Jethro Gibbs _himself_ made me. You know the stress that put me under? Do you? DO YOU?"

"No," Jane answered. "But I know. I know that I'm in law enforcement, and tagged your car that led to the chase. I made you not Maura. _I'm_ the one you want, not her. Take me. Me for _her_."

"Jane, god, please don't," Maura said, only for Dugan to clamp his forearm over her mouth.

"Answer a question for me," Dugan said. "Find my mommy yet?"

The others looked at him, some confused, most looking for an excuse to pull the trigger.

"Yeah," replied Daniel "We found your mom. In one of your statues."

"One of my _creations_," he said, switching back into ramble mode. "I left all of my creations in places I wanted to go with my mommy. Parks, zoos, college, church, the movies, the baseball park..."

Gibbs saw Dugan loosen his grip on Maura, slightly. And he made up his mind.

"Now maybe mommies will listen and treat their children right, so they don't grow up to be like me."

Suddenly, he grabbed Maura by her hair and put his gun to the back of her head and crossed completely into madness.

"YOUR HEALING HANDS BROUGHT ME BACK TO EARTH TO DEAL WITH IT ALL OVER AGAIN! I WANTED TO DIE AFTER THE CHASE, CAME CLOSE BUT YOU BROUGHT ME BACK TO LIFE-"

Gibbs then strode forward, to everyone else's shock; Dugan shut up, glaring at the NCIS agent.

"You're _not_ getting out of here," Gibbs calmly said. "Let. Maura. Go. Now."

Dugan looked around, wildly, drool beginning to pour out of his mouth - but with his weapon still aimed at Maura's head.

"Agent Todd," Gibbs calmly said, momentarily confusing Kate.

Agent Julie Todd fired her SIG.

Her first bullet ripped through Dugan's hand at the same time Gibbs' first shot seared through Dugan's forehead.

Kate rushed forward to grab Maura, as Dugan's lifeless body fell backwards into the shaft, crashing seconds later on top of the broken elevator resting six floors below.

Jane rushed to Maura, pulling her into her arms, and cradling Maura's face in the crook of her neck.

"It's okay, it's okay," Jane said. "It's over. We got him, baby...you're safe."

As Gibbs, Julie, Daniel and Kate looked into the shaft at Dugan's body and the SOU officers spread through the rest of his apartment, Cavanaugh, Riley and Korsak rushed to Jane and Maura's sides.

The shock of the moment wore off for Maura, who finally began sobbing into Jane's neck.

"Shhhhhh," Jane replied. "I got you, honey. You're safe with me. No one's gonna hurt you."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**Boston**

**Outside The Gerritsen Building**

"Crime Scene Unit's upstairs processing the scene and the elevator shaft," Cavanaugh told Gibbs. "Standard procedure, nothing we need to be here for."

"Got my _own_ standard procedure, Lieutenant," Gibbs replied. "But you're right. No need to go back. We saw plenty today."

Cavanaugh looked over towards Jane, standing next to a squad car with Maura in her arms, trying to comfort her.

"They're strong women," Gibbs told him. "They'll be alright."

With that comment, Gibbs walked away, towards his rental car, and to his junior agent, Caitlin Todd.

Both exchanged a look.

"You ready?" Gibbs said to her.

"Yeah," Kate said. "Where are we going?"

"Police station."

Something had been brewing between Gibbs and Kate, team leader and his agent, man and woman for quite a while.

She thinks the seed was planted when they investigated that case on the USS Philadelphia.

He thinks it was during the Air Force One case, and before he hired her after the Secret Service put her on the job market.

Both of them had kept their feelings inside. Gibbs, specifically, fell back on his Rule 12, and his status as team leader, and his rationale that the only woman for him had been taken from him by death, and there would never be another like her.

It was easier for Gibbs to back away from falling head over heels for Kate, than it was for her to back away from her growing feelings for him.

He could have held her at bay indefinitely.

She only needed the right set of circumstances to show her that following his lead, on this, just wouldn't work any longer.

"Gibbs...it could have been one of us in that guy's crosshairs today," she said, as Gibbs started the rental and put it in reverse.

"Could be one of us every day, Kate," he said. "What's your _point_?"

Kate, momentarily exasperated, didn't say anything.

"Got a _point_, Agent Todd?"

_Yeah. And you're going to hear it. _

She decided to speak her mind.

"Yeah, Gibbs, I 'got a point'," she said, pointedly. "It could have been one of us, my sister, her team, Maura, Jane, the detectives."

Gibbs stayed silent for a few moments. "Yeah it could've. Comes with the territory..._something_ on your mind?"

"Yeah," she said, indignantly. "Your cavalier attitude."

"My 'cavalier attitude'."

"Yes, Gibbs. Your _attitude_...after all that happened last year, and the year before, and this week, just another day at the office for you, isn't it?"

"Isn't just another day-"

"Always the _same_. We take risks, we get shot at, _you_ act like it's no big deal, part of the job-"

For some reason, Gibbs allowed Kate her rant...for the moment, anyway...while trying to figure out what in hell she was getting at.

"-people nearly die and your reaction is this is another day at the office-"

He would have stopped Abby at this point, walked away from Ducky and Jenny, and headslapped DiNozzo and McGee before they even got this far.

"-and it's _not_," Kate continued. "Maura nearly died up there. And you act like that's just another day. Well, Gibbs, it's not-"

Gibbs slammed on his brakes in the middle of the road; Cavanaugh, six car lengths behind them, slowed down, and followed them.

"Agent Todd!" Gibbs shouted at her. "Are you _questioning_ my command?!"

"I'm questioning your _attitude_," she shot back. "This. That. Was not bringing in some dirtbag for questioning. A woman nearly died. At the hands of someone hired by _ARI_..._Ari_ nearly killed her."

"Agent Todd. If you can't handle certain aspects of the job, I can see if I can have you-"

"_I_ _CARE_!" screamed Kate - which made Gibbs shut up.

"I _CARE_! About Maura! About everyone and everything! The last three years I've been on this team I've _cared_!"

Kate Todd had no idea that no one other than Shannon - Jethro's first wife - had screamed at him like that and made him stop, made him listen.

"Despite your heartlessness and Tony's sophomoric crap, despite the fact you two nearly turned me into a smartass bitch just to survive working here, I cared! I cared when we found Pacci murdered in that elevator...I cared when Erin Kendall was murdered and it tore McGee apart...I cared when we met Jane and Maura and learned about the other women who looked me that that monster Ari tortured…

"I cared when our entire team was under a death threat, my own family, Daniel, Julie, Rachel, Roger, Gerry, mom, dad...I cared about Ziva when Jenny told me what her father had done to her...I cared about Paula _every_ time you treated her like shit..."

Kate wiped away a tear, but before Gibbs could get in a word, she leaned over and got right in his face.

"I cared about _YOU_! I cared...I care...I can't _STOP_ caring about you Gibbs!...I _love_ you."

For the first time in years, Leroy Jethro Gibbs was speechless.

"I _love_ you. And all I _see_ from you? Rule 12. Business. Cold, heartless, Jack Bauer, so damned distant I wonder where you hide your humanity."

Gibbs turned from her, looking straight ahead, thinking only now to shut the engine off and hit the hazard lights.

"Your team thinks the world of you, Jethro," Kate said, less loudly but no less determined. "They bust their asses to solve the case, to find these dirtbags, to help innocent people, to please you."

Gibbs exhaled.

"But how do you reward them? You talk to them like you're pissed off at the world, like there's something eating at you that you can't lower yourself to share with anyone," Kate continued. "People reach out to you, even the ones who are scared to push, because they care."

Kate put her hand on his hand, clasping it.

"I care...God only knows _why_, or why it took so long for me to _see_ it," she said, softly. "You're an amazing man...despite your asshole demeanor, there's a soft, kind, decent, noble heart beating inside that chest. I've seen you with kids; most guys don't care about things like that the way you do."

Gibbs bristled; he thought of Kelly. Whom, like Shannon, he had to move on from.

"Most agents wouldn't go as far as you have to help people and solve cases...Gibbs. It tears me up, seeing you tormented like this, and not knowing what is going on or how to help you, or even to get you to open up to Ducky or the director-"

Gibbs reached over, turned the ignition key, turned off the hazard lights, and put the car in drive.

"Agent Todd," he said. "You really feel this way."

"Gibbs, it isn't a good idea for us to have this conversation while you're driving-"

"If we're going to _have_ 'this conversation' it's _only_ going to be while I'm driving," Gibbs said, eyes on the road, his tone resolute. "Once we get to the station, 'this conversation' is _over_."

"_Okay_," Kate said moments later. "I've said what I've said. I mean every bit of it. What's eating you up inside. Our team caring greatly about you and wanting to help. MY caring about you."

"You," Gibbs simply said.

"Yeah," she replied. "Not just as my boss, the man who gave me a second chance after I screwed away my Secret Service job. Not just the agent I greatly respect. I care about you as Leroy Jethro Gibbs. The man.

"I care about you greatly and I love you just as much."

Their car was three blocks from Boston PD's Division One building, and Gibbs was silent for the next block and the wait on the red light.

Once the light turned green, he gunned his engine, and finally spoke.

"Agent Todd, Rule 12 is in effect for all of us for a lot of reasons," he said, and Kate waited for him to finish.

Then, she realized that he had. And she had no idea what to make of the emotional turmoil she found herself engulfed in.

Gibbs pulled the car into an open parking space in front of the entrance, and as soon as he stopped the car she unhooked her seatbelt. "God damn you," she spat, slamming the door behind her.

A short distance away, Cavanaugh pulled into another open parking space.

He had the director of NCIS, Jenny Shepard, on the speaker of his cell phone.

"How bad does it look?" he heard the director ask.

"She slammed the door and he's just sitting there in the car," Cavanaugh replied.

"I'll handle it, Lieutenant," the director replied, then thanked Cavanaugh for Boston PD's assistance, and said she would touch base with him the next day.

**Washington**

When she ended the call with Cavanaugh, Jenny Shepard put her head in her hands, and wondered how on earth to fix this mess - and what kind of mess she, and the agency, were involved with.

Jenny pushed a button on her desk phone, buzzing her secretary, in the lobby outside the director's office.

"Cynthia," Jenny said, "if Dr. Mallard is in the building, have him come up here. I need to talk with him immediately...then, contact Dr. Getz and Dr. Cranston, tell them I need to consult with them by phone in the next hour. And tell Agent DiNozzo he'll have to run Gibbs' team one more day."

Jenny ended the call, and, waiting for Ducky to show up in her office, leaned back in her chair and exhaled.

She looked up a phone number in a file, typed it into her cell, made sure she got the calling code for Mexico right, double-checked that she had Mike Franks' contact number, and reminded herself to place the call when she got home that night.

A few minutes later, Cynthia told her Dr. Mallard was here, and Jenny nodded.

"Director Shepard, how may I be of assistance?" Ducky said, walking into her office.

"Have a seat, Dr. Mallard," Jenny said, motioning to the chair in front of her desk. "It's Jethro. And Caitlin."

"Oh my," Ducky replied. "Something's happened in Boston."

"I don't know yet exactly what," Jenny answered, "but I'm not going to let him 'handle it' any longer, and I need your counsel and your word that you'll follow my lead."

**Boston**

Gibbs watched as Kate stormed away from the car, into the building.

_She wasn't wrong_, he thought, _and she was probably right about everything she said. _

_How in hell did she make me?_

_How in hell does she not realize that Rule 12 is there for a reason._

_Why in hell did she not take the advice I gave her on that plane and find someone from church. Why did she have to fall for someone like me-_

Gibbs's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his window from Cavanaugh.

"Gibbs," he said. "Gibbs. You alright?"

_Damn thing's spiraling outta control_, he thought, as he shut the engine off and opened his door.

"Everything's fine, Lieutenant," Gibbs replied after getting out of the car. "When's the debriefing?"

"Fifteen minutes, my office," Cavanaugh answered. "You sure you're okay?"

"Fine and dandy," Gibbs said, walking away from the lieutenant. "I'll see you inside."

Cavanaugh waited until the agent walked through the doors, then placed a call.

"Angela," he said. "I need a favor...Jane and Maura are alright...Maura's at Boston General, Jane's with her, just as a precaution, but they're both okay...listen. I need a favor. Agent Todd. Make sure she's okay...yeah, thanks."

Gibbs, having walked in the room, looked hard into the Division One Cafe, where Kate had wandered into.

He didn't notice the car pulling up in front of the building, nor the buzzing of his cell phone, nor the man rushing out of the car, up the stairs, through the front entrance.

Gibbs began walking towards Kate and Angela, intent on ordering Kate to join him in the debriefing; as he walked through the entrance, he felt a strong hand grab him by the arm.

"My _sister_," he heard, looking up to see FBI Agent Daniel Todd - Kate's brother. "Don't do something you're gonna regret later, Gunny."

Perhaps he was.

"Your _sister_? _My_ _agent_-"

"Check your _phone_...that's what your _boss_ told me to tell ya, Agent Gibbs."

He froze, pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the two-word text message from Director Shepard's cell phone.

_CALL ME_

Which was quickly followed up by a slightly longer text:

_IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR JOB_

"Dammit," he muttered, then glanced at Daniel Todd. "Take care of your _sister_," he half-yelled at the FBI agent, who turned heel and walked to her, and Angela Rizzoli's, table.

**Later that evening**

**Maura Isles' home**

Gibbs went back to the hotel, grabbed his belongings, then drove his rental back to Logan International Airport and caught the first available flight back to Washington.

It was decided - not by Gibbs - that Daniel would drive Kate back to Logan the next day, and Ducky and McGee would pick her up at Reagan and drive her back to the Navy Yard. She'd stay overnight at Maura's house.

Kate was very quiet, and said nothing about Dugan nor Gibbs.

She sat with Maura on her couch in the living room, both sitting in a comfortable silence.

"I can't get the poor girl to open up, Jane," Angela said to her daughter, as both prepared dinner in the nearby kitchen.

"That man...did something to her on the way back from the case...I thought he was _better_ than that-"

"He _is_, Ma," Jane replied.

"You're taking his side?"

"I'm not taking...they're in denial, Ma. Been in denial for quite a while. They had a fight and we're looking at the aftermath."

"Did she _tell_ you that, Jane?" Angela asked. "She barely said _anything_ to me and to her brother."

"She didn't have to, Ma...Maura and I know it from experience."

Angela knew what her daughter was referring to.

"Right before you left for Washington, last year. That fight you two had in the morgue. Vince didn't know what was going on."

"It's when she confronted me, Ma, told me how she _felt_, and told _me_ how _I_ was feeling," Jane said. "I was pissed."

"But you were mad only for a brief time. You two came home and were talking to each other. Vince told me later that's when he first thought you two loved each other."

"Helluva lot nicer to accept the truth and kiss and make up."

"If that's what she and Gibbs are dealing with...they haven't made up."

"Takes two to tango, Ma," Jane replied. "She's willing. He? _That's_ where their problem is."

The doorbell then rang, and Angela told Maura and Kate to stay seated. "I'm expecting a shipment of yarn," she explained.

But Amazon wasn't at the door.

"Oh my god," Angela exclaimed, as Jane rushed over from the kitchen, and Kate and Maura rushed up from the couch, to the doorway.

"It's Lydia's baby," Jane said, then continued, for Kate's benefit, "my brother, Tommy, and his...girlfriend Lydia. She gave birth while we were catching Dugan..."

Kate took the baby from Angela, and rocked it in her arms, as Maura cooed, and Angela and Jane looked on.

"I've always wanted to be a mother," Kate said, smiling for the first time in a while.

Jane wondered what she could say to Gibbs, or do, to get him to wake the hell up...or if she should.

**A few hours later**

**1:10 a.m.**

**Reagan Airport, Washington**

Gibbs waited on the carousel to move his bags into view, so he could get outta there, and back home, and back to his basement so he could figure things out.

"Gonna _say_ something, Jen?"

He looked over at Jenny, waiting for her to speak; she stood, silently.

"Up past your bedtime, director?" he asked, as his bags moved into view, and he walked over to grab them off the carousel.

"We're going to talk about this, Jethro," she said. "You're going to tell me what happened between you and Kate. Then we're going to talk through the issues between you and Kate, and you and your team, and find a way to keep you from blowing things up."

"Everything's _fine_, Jen," Gibbs shot back. "My team's fine, and _I'll_ handle things-"

"_Please_," Jenny quickly retorted. "You're a repressed, ticking time bomb. I probably let things go too long, but when you blow up during a case I cannot overlook that."

"Nothing to overlook."

"Bullshit," Jenny said. "Go home. Get some sleep. Be in my office at 0900. Tony will lead your team-"

"DiNozzo and the _rest_ will be _ready_ tomorrow for whatever case comes up," Gibbs shouted. "And _when_ Agent Todd returns, _I_ will decide _what_ to do with her."

"No, _I_ will decide _what_ you do with Agent Todd," Jenny replied, firmly, glaring right back at her ex-teammate and lover. "_You_ work for _me_. _Not_ the other way around. _Remember_ that, Agent Gibbs, and you _have_ your orders."

Gibbs looked past her, and saw six NCIS agents standing in the distance, plus FBI agent Tobias Fornell.

"Just to ensure you get home safely, Jethro," she said, nodding for them to approach.

The director walked away, out of baggage claim into the concourse. Fornell offered to drive him home, then insisted Gibbs ride with him.

Neither man said a word as Fornell drove Gibbs to his townhouse, nor as Fornell helped the agent take his bags into the house, nor as they went down to his basement afterwards.

Fornell, having taken a bottle of Early Times from his car to the basement, offered to pour Gibbs a drink. Gibbs barely nodded, going straight to work on his boat.

Twenty minutes later, he stopped, and turned to the table behind him, where Fornell sat, nail jar in hand.

"You're gonna _sit_ there all night, Tobias?" Gibbs blurted out. "Take a damn drink, at least."

"You _first_," Fornell replied.

Gibbs took his nail jar, slammed half the bourbon down, and quickly began feeling very, very sleepy.

Struggling to stand up, he reached out to Fornell, who calmly walked to his side and grabbed him to keep him from crashing to the floor.

"Tobias...feeling like...sonofabitch. You _spiked_ my-"

Gibbs's voiced trailed off, and moments later he was fast asleep. Fornell helped him up, and over to the cot in front of the workbench.

Fornell placed a call on his cell.

"Ducky," he said. "Jethro's out like a light, he isn't gonna wake up for a few hours...I'll stay here, till he comes to, and tell Abby thanks for letting Emily stay with her tonight...whatever Jenny's got brewing, better work. I _won't_ be able to pull this on Jethro again."

**The next day**

**Boston**

Maura was in a more talkative mood in the morning, though still shaken by the previous day's events.

"I'm still processing the worst day of my life, Caitlin," Maura said to Kate, as Daniel drove Kate to Logan Airport, and Jane rode up front.

"Well, you have Jordan there to take your workload while you recover," Kate replied. "You'll be fine, Maura. You're strong. Dugan wasn't going to hurt you and he _can't_ hurt you any longer."

"He was the last of Ari's gang on the loose," Jane replied, looking to the back seat. "All the others are either dead or in prison."

"Think we can finally put that mess behind us," Daniel said. "And move on for good."

"Speaking of moving on...what about you, Kate?" Jane said.

"I'm going back to Washington, Jane, going back to work," Kate said, with a pleasant smile. "What did you think?"

"You _know_ what I'm talking about," Jane replied, with a smile. "You took a risk, and you know how your brother and I feel about coworkers sleeping together."

"But we also know you had to listen to your heart," Maura added. "I took the same risk myself, with Jane-"

"And I blew up, kinda like Gibbs, when she told me how she felt-" Jane added.

"I got the answer I wanted a little more quickly than I expected, Caitlin," Maura continued. "I know Gibbs didn't respond the way you wished-"

"Maura if he did that to me I'd have kicked his _ass_ outta that _car_."

Kate chuckled. "Yeah, Jane, you probably would."

"If you had given me that...type of response, Jane...I'd continue to confront you until we could sit down and talk, like we did the next day at the Dirty Robber," Maura said. "Caitlin. Don't give up just yet. Gibbs may need more time to process his emotions before you two can have the conversation you need to have together."

"That, and a bottle of bourbon," Jane remarked. "When he's willing to talk, don't take any crap off of him. Stand your ground, and remember you've got a lot of support out there."

"And if worst comes to worst, Kate," Daniel added. "You've got a lot more options than you think."

"Come on, Danny, Gibbs isn't gonna fire me," Kate said, not entirely convinced of it.

"Hotchner said he'd take you on as part of the BAU in a second," Daniel replied. "If you wanted to stay in NCIS, Julie said Los Angeles is looking for another agent. You could go to Great Lakes, or Pearl, or New Orleans."

"New Orleans has an NCIS office?" Jane asked, as their car approached Logan's parking garage.

"Its senior agent, Dewayne Pride, worked with Gibbs as part of something called the Fed Five," Daniel said. "Scuttlebutt has it Pride heard about what Gibbs pulled with you, and is gonna give ol' Gibbs a call-"

"Scuttlebutt? Call Gibbs...ohmi_god_. The whole _agency_ knows-"

"Shhhh," Maura said. "No one is blaming you."

"If anything, you're smelling like a rose, and Gibbs is looking like an ass," Jane said, as their car entered the garage. "Are you _sure_ you _want_ a relationship with him, Kate?"

Kate was silent. "I don't know," she finally said a minute later. "I thought I did, I think I do...I know what I feel, I know he's not a monster-"

"I know all about his past too, and so does Maura," Jane replied. "He still should have spoken to you better than he did...you and he need to talk as adults, about your future, when you're both ready."

"And remember that whatever happens, you deserve someone who loves you for who you are, and respects you for who you are and what you want to be," Maura told her. "Do _not_ settle for anything less."

The car stopped, in a parking space, and the four got out.

"You said Julie and her team's supposed to meet us here," Kate asked Daniel. "My flight's not for another three hours."

"Julie said if she's not here now, she'll be here in plenty of time to see you off," he said. "They're taking commercial back to L.A., in four hours, I think."

**North Boston Federal Penitentiary**

Hetty Lange, Kensi Blye and Nate Getz stood behind Julie Todd, sitting at the table in the sparse interrogation room, surrounded by guards.

She looked the man sitting across from her in the eyes.

"You remind me of Maura," said Patrick "Paddy" Doyle, former Boston hitman, serving a life sentence for a myriad of crimes. "Got her eyes, her hair, her face. A little more spunk, than her, more like your sister."

"My time is limited and very valuable," Julie Todd said to him, not breaking eye contact. "This is what I want you to answer for me: Hope Davis. Is her real name Hope Martin?"

"Yes," Paddy said.

"Did she run away from home at 17?"

"Yes."

"Was she born in Fort Wayne, Indiana?"

"Yes."

"Born to Drs. Christopher and Julie Martin?"

"Yes."

"Does she have a sister in Indianapolis named Melissa?"

"Yes."

Melissa Martin Todd is Julie and Kate's mother.

Julie maintained her cool.

"Is Hope Davis Martin my aunt? And Maura Dorthea Isles my biological cousin?"

"Agent Todd. That would make me your uncle in law-"

"_Answer_ my _questions_. Hope Martin. Maura Isles. My aunt and my cousin. Yes or no."

"Yes," Paddy said to Julie, then looked at Hetty Lange. "Now what do I get in return?"

"What you get in return, Mr. Doyle, is a clean conscience," Hetty said, "and my assurance of a fair investigation by 'the Feds', as you put it, of the MEND Agency."

Paddy looked at Hetty, then nodded. "Agent Todd, I hope your family can be a better one to Maura than the one I stuck her with," he said, getting up from his seat. "Guards."

The guards took him back to his cell, leaving four of the members of the Office of Special Projects team by themselves.

"Wow, Hetty," Julie said. "That hunch of yours paid off."

"We need to hurry and get to the airport," Hetty replied. "There isn't much time to inform Dr. Isles and your sister Caitlin, before Caitlin's flight to Washington departs."

Northeast Airlines Flight 467

Boston to Washington

Daniel and Kate Todd talked, brother and sister, enjoying the rare opportunity they had to hang out.

"Giovanni is the first person Jane and Maura came out to," Kate said. "Jane says he's not a bad guy, but he's..._weird_."

"Weird like he was with Maura?" Daniel said.

"Yeah. Telling me I'm hot, says I look like Maura, asked me out," Kate said. "Asked me what I was into...and if I liked face licking."

"_I'm_ gonna kill the guy," Daniel said.

"Jane's already killed him _twice_," Kate said. "I took care of him, called him a pig, said I'd kill him if he tried anything and he backed down like a lamb...I'm really glad Gibbs wasn't around in the morgue when Giovanni showed up. Gibbs really would've _killed_ him."

Kate smiled, then looked out the window.

"Hey," Daniel told her. "Remember what we said about Gibbs, and what I told you about your options."

Kate smiled at him.

"I know," she said. "I appreciate you putting in a word with Hotchner for me...do me a favor. Make sure when you get back that Jane followed up on my suggestion."

"Jane Rizzoli?" he asked, as Kate nodded. "What suggestion?"

**Boston**

After leaving Logan, Jane dropped Maura off at Boston PD and the Division One Cafe, making sure Angela and her brother Frankie were with her, telling them she had an errand to run.

Jane drove downtown, checked her checking account balance at her bank's branch, then drove four blocks to one of Boston's most prominent jewelry stores.

Jane, dressed in a v-neck short sleeve shirt and slacks, with her badge and gun, looked out of place amongst the well-heeled couples in the store.

She didn't give a damn.

"I want to look at your engagement rings," Jane said to the woman behind the counter. "I'm going to propose to my girlfriend and I want to make sure I have the right ring to give her."

"Certainly, ah?"

"Detective. Detective Rizzoli."

"Certainly, Detective," said the woman, who ignored the offended look from an older female customer, with blonde helmet hair. "We're always happy to serve Boston's Finest..."

**Washington**

Everyone, at least in the Navy Yard, had heard by now that something happened between Gibbs and Kate in Boston after Maura Isles' rescue.

Scuttlebutt was much more favorable, at the moment, to Kate, and there more than a few whispers that Gibbs had it coming to him.

What 'it' was depended on who you talked to, and as long as Gibbs wasn't around, the scuttlebutt flowed.

It shut down the moment he stepped off the elevator, royally pissed off.

"Ho boy here he comes," muttered Tim McGee, the first member of Gibbs' team to see him storm onto the floor.

"_Hello_ Boss," stated Tony DiNozzo, standing in front of his desk. "Nice to see you _back_ Boss. How was _Boston_ Boss-"

Gibbs stormed past Tony, and McGee, and Officer Ziva David, and Abby Sciuto, and ran up the stairs to Jenny Shepard's office. He stormed past Jenny's secretary, Cynthia, slammed open the door to the director's office, and barged in.

Waiting on him were the director, and Ducky, and Assistant Director Leon Vance, who swiftly walked over and shut the door behind Gibbs.

"What the _hell_," he blurted, and turned to leave - only to run into FBI agent Tobias Fornell, and NCIS agent Balboa.

"Have a seat, Jethro," Jenny told him. "We're going to be here a while."

**POSTSCRIPT**

**One day later**

**Boston**

**Maura Isles' home**

"Oh my god...Jane. It's beautiful...yes...yes, yes, YES!"

Maura Isles grabbed Jane Rizzoli in a tight embrace, glancing back and forth between her beloved and the engagement ring on her finger.

"Yes you'll marry me or yes we're eating pizza tonight instead of that fake turkey tofu stuff you had shipped in from New York?" quipped Jane.

"Yes, I'll marry you...and tofu is much better for you than your pizza," Maura said, pulling back to look Jane in the eye. "But you're hungry? Because _I'm_ not...I had something in mind as a way of _celebration_."

"Hmm?" Jane answered. "Whatcha got in _mind_?"

"Come _upstairs_ and I'll show you," Maura said, coyly. "Your mother won't be here to interrupt us, and I'll prepare a delightful tofu dinner afterwards."

Tofu wasn't on Jane's mind, as she followed her beloved up the stairs into their bedroom.

**Three minutes later**

"_MA'S_ DATING _CAVANAUGH?!_"

**Two weeks after Boston**

**Quantico, Virginia**

**Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters**

Aaron Hotchner closed the manila folder and tossed it back to Tobias Fornell, who pushed it back.

"Better hold on to this, Hotch," Fornell told the Unit Chief of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. "I got a hunch it may come in handy later."

"A hunch," said FBI Senior Supervisory Agent David Rossi, the BAU's second-in-command. "She wants to stay at NCIS...my notes say that after their director orchestrated that come-to-Jesus meeting with Gibbs, he agreed to act as if his and Agent Todd's argument never happened. His team rallied around her, giving her emotional support. And she's almost never alone with the man."

"They're trying to keep things from boiling over, again," said SSA Derek Morgan. "Gideon would've had a field day figuring these people out."

"Jason would have loved to train her," said Hotchner of his former teammate, now retired, regarded as the BAU's best-ever profiler. "I know you would too, David."

"NCIS wants to set up their own BAU, with her as a team member?" Rossi asked Fornell.

"Their assistant director is trying to arrange that, but the director's dragging her feet," Fornell said. "Here's something else to consider. Gibbs may be getting ready to retire and hand his team off to his other senior agent, DiNozzo. She may not want to work for him-"

"Which means, if I understand what you're implying, Tobias, for me to hold on to this file," Hotchner added. "Whatever happens in this case, I'll go by the book."

"Understood," Fornell said. "If and when I hear anything about job movement on her part, I'll let you know."

**Two months after Boston**

"'You'll do'? That's _all_ he could _say_ to you, Tony?"

Kate Todd was as shocked as the other members of her team at the sight of Gibbs announcing his retirement, and turning over his team to Tony.

Ducky had just came off the elevator, making his way towards the other members of the Major Case Response Team. McGee was still shell-shocked, Abby crying on Kate's shoulder, and Tony stared at Gibbs' now-vacant desk. Ziva stood in front of her desk, impassively, while Director Shepard watched on from the top of the stairs.

"Jethro is on his way back to his house, to gather his things before he heads down to Mexico," Ducky told them, "to live out his _retirement_ with Mike Franks."

"He'll be back," Kate mused. "Mike Franks will drive him crazy."

"He's _exactly_ like Mike Franks," Tony shot back. "They'll get along _fine_."

DiNozzo moved a few of his personal items to Gibbs' old desk. "Let me know by tomorrow if you wanna stay at your current desks or claim my old one for yourself. Kate has first dibs, then McGee, then Ziva."

No one responded.

"You're senior agent," Tony said to Kate. "Unless. You have other plans."

Kate stood, momentarily confused, then angered. "Tony are you _accusing_ me of-"

"Looking at other options within the agency? Like Vance's profiling unit? OSP in Los Angeles? New Orleans? Yes."

Kate realized she had misjudged Tony and went to apologize. "Tony, I'm _sorry_-"

"Save it, Kate," he replied. "We've already lost our boss and I'd have to lose another member of our team. I want you and McGee as my co-senior agents. But...if you have a better opportunity elsewhere you're a fool not to take it."

Before she could answer, Tony turned to the group. "Everybody go home, get some rest. It's been a helluva long day. Keep your cell phones on, and I expect to see you in the morning at 0730."

With that, Tony walked out of the bullpen towards the elevator.

"Tony," Abby shouted out. "Are we going-are things going to be-we-"

"We'll all be just _fine_, Abs," he said. "Gibbs would want you - us - to do our jobs. Tomorrow's another day. He'd want us ready to _work_."

Tony stepped on the elevator, and the others went their separate ways.

Kate looked up the stairs, saw that the director had left, then felt her cell buzz.

_LEON VANCE_

_LUNCH AT NOON? _

_WANT TO TALK SHOP_

She texted back

_IF TONY OK'S IT_

_THAT WILL BE FINE_

Then Kate and Abby walked out of the bullpen, together, and went to Abby's apartment, where they cried and laughed over Gibbs and Tony and NCIS and the past, present and future.

**Five months after Boston**

That fall, Gibbs returned to Washington to help Ziva out of a predicament, and everyone expected he would return to his old job.

He didn't.

He couldn't face his feelings for Kate, so he ran to the other side of the continent, without considering that she, out of necessity, had moved on.

She stayed on with the MCRT, partly because budget cuts had stalled Vance's BAU initiative, mostly because, as she told the director, "I haven't found better people to work with."

Kate liked everyone on the team - including Ziva - and her respect for Tony had grown immensely in the past several months. She wasn't going to walk away from it without a good reason.

**Five and a half months after Boston**

Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles had a spectacular wedding.

Hope Martin was nowhere to be found, but Maura and the Todd family put aside their disappointment over that, and some of the Todds their discomfort with the nature of Maura's relationship.

If anyone said anything negative, Kate just elbowed them hard in the gut.

Maura and Jane spent their honeymoon in Spain.

**Six months after Boston**

Kate and the MCRT were in the middle of a case involving McGee's sister, Sarah, and the mother of all subplots:

McGee, under the nose of everyone at NCIS including Director Shepard herself, had become a published and successful author, under the pen name Thom E. Gemcity. His book, Deep Six: The Continuing Adventures of L.J. Tibbs, was at No. 5 on The New York Times bestseller list.

His cases were original, except that they greatly resembled the team's cases, and his characters were original, except they greatly resembled the MCRT members.

"You named me _MAE COD_, McGee! You named me after a fish. A _FISH_!"

Kate was steaming mad, and McGee thought he might elbow him to an early demise - if Officer Ziva (Officer Lisa) and Special Agent in Charge DiNozzo (SAC Tommy) didn't beat her to it.

"I didn't name you – her – after a _fish_, Kate," McGee stammered. "C-o-d-d. That's her name. None of these characters are based on anyone here-"

"Do we have to review this _again_, Mc_Gee_?" Ziva said, impatiently. "Should I bring up Pimmy Jalmer? Amy Sutton? Even L.J. Tibbs, the mysterious leader singlehandedly fighting the Mexican Cartel?"

"Look, it's fiction. It's just a story," McGee protested, to no avail.

"And I'm a _FISH_!" Kate shouted. "A _killer_ fish. Ex-_CIA_ fish. Kill terrorists with her bare hands - no, _FINS_ - fish-"

"You're _not_ a fish and neither is _she_," McGee said. "She's a person. I only gave her that name to not confuse her with anyone else-"

"With _me_, McGee!" Kate threw up her hands and went back to her desk. "_OOOOOOOOOOHH_!"

**Mexico**

Thom E. Gemcity's fame had crossed the border. Without the author's knowledge, Deep Six had become an item of interest amongst the leaders of a certain cartel.

Its matriarch sat in her comfortable mansion, reading through it for the fourth time, this afternoon sipping some wine.

"I myself have enjoyed the writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez," said her brother, who sat down on the couch across from her.

They were the only family they had, he a respected government official, she the head of one of the most notorious cartels in the Western Hemisphere. They were alone in her spacious living room, with only a bottle of wine, the Deep Six book, a box filled with documents, and half a dozen armed guards for company.

She reached down and placed the box on the table, while he poured himself a glass.

"That terrorist has been dead for a year and a half?" he said, looking at his sister file through the box.

"And yet he continues to provide gifts," she replied, finding the folder she was looking for. "It is almost as if he is still alive."

He opened the folder. "Is everything arranged, Paloma?"

She nodded. "You will invite their forensics specialist to Mexico, where she will give a series of lectures. You'll draw her out - quite easily, from what my people tell me - into the countryside, where she will find the bullet."

"And our people will examine his house, and the shack in Baja, for evidence of the weapon," he added. "My contacts say they can capture their agent as bait and get some substantial information from her."

"The one he loves, Alejandro?"

"No. Her sister. There is something else."

He left the living room, briefly, and returned with a laptop, calling up a website.

"There is a conference in southern California," he said. "The cousin is scheduled to speak there. We can also capture her and use her as leverage."

"I see," she replied. "Do you not think, however, that capturing the lover and the forensics specialist at the same time is the better play?"

"I do not think we should play that card with his lover just _yet_," said Alejandro Rivera. "He is the ultimate objective anyway. We need to move the pieces so that we capture him. _That_ should be our endgame."

Paloma Reynosa sat back, placing the Deep Six book on her lap, and took another drink.

"You're right, Alejandro," she said. "The rest are pawns. _We_ will _have_ our _revenge_ on Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

**TO BE CONTINUED THIS SUMMER**

**IN**

**RI&K: LOS ANGELES**


End file.
